#there was also a fucking incredible train mod for a while

[tearlessrain]

I still think about my fuckin creative mode minecraft save that I lost a while back switching out hard drives. it had a full walled city and an elevated highway, a giant cathedral, lore, I was midway through building the central tower of an even bigger city. and I did most of it by hand because I didn't learn about mc edit until I got to the fuckin tower. all the shops had detailed interiors and stories behind them. there was a market. I never really got back into minecraft fully after I lost that world.

[fandoms-of-a-random-existence]

Is this that thing that you like? (/j but also where would I be able to find it it looks interesting)

FSJFHSKFJSKHH I-

okay I will admit i was not expecting anyone to ask but holy shit/pos

Okay, so confession time, Kings in the Corner is actually a closed discord ARG that is actually on hiatus right now because of IRL things, however the mods decided to leave it as a sandbox for the players and we have steadily been descending into madness and brainrot (dreamscapes arc my beloved)

And so, I don't actually remember how we got on the topic but eventually a bunch of us came to the conclusion "being insane about the blorbos on the discord isn't enough, we need to subject the rest of the world to our brainrot, what if we posted on tumblr like it was an actual fandom with no context" and well I am giving context now but shhh don't worry about it sorry I took so long to reply, I just. there's so much...this is gonna be long- anyways since there really isn't any way to get kitc content besides the players brainrot spilling over, here~! (apologies for the way this is. not likely all that comprehensible)

The basic plot is you/your character has been invited to the Kingdom in the Four Corners where we have a King, Queen, and Jack for each card suit, and each player is/was assigned a suit based off of your vibes, and later on, just got shunted into diamonds due to the uh. tragedies. Anyways! Because of the way the invitation works, all the characters have the potential to be from different worlds and universes which has led to the colorful cast of characters including [looks at notes]

-Fallen London OC

-Twisted Wonderland OC

-An actual Warriorcat

-Doctor Who x the Beatles OC

-Charas from players own original worlds <3

-The personification of healing from grief who is also from pathologic now

-AND FUCKING HOMESTUCKED

All I really have to say about the last one is don't take any orange pills the Jokers give you. (The Jokers are... actually I should preface this with the information none of us take drugs irl, but they are the closest thing to medical doctors we've got so uh, if you want to take some joker drugs to get a funky hallucination to learn more details about the rebellion/experience the previous Ace's executions for yourself as a side effect for your stomach ache, well are they they guys you wanna see! Apparently Jokers start their training at age 10 and it's very fucked up and also there are domestic and feral jokers??? I am concerned.)

Honestly so much has happened in a relatively short period of time I don't think I could summarize all the important bits but some of the highlights so far include: -The Bitchless Allegations: King Dani of Diamonds (Incredibly Bitchless, the Universe told me-) accosted a group of candidates (Ash, Hugo(ne), Raevyn, and Riyo iirc) who proceeded to get his ass. He stabbed Hugo in retaliation with his fancy magic sword that he shouldn't have even really had, Hugo was spitting up red jewels for a while, and almost died. All Spades got free access to Diamonds tower though so uh,,, winning I guess??

-There was a bit more lore in the interim and some puzzled solved but to be honest I don't remember much-

-The Bear.

-Also the Hearts' resident gays Salem and Luci (Saluci beloved <3) (admittedly not together yet) hatched a plot to fake a fight so the could befriend everyone despite the wild and horrific state of relationships between the candidates. They fucked it up. Luci and Riyo's friendship will never return. Esp after the Hugone incident-

(And oh yeah, Riyo punched Luci at one point, breaking her face revealing the fact she's an artificial being made of porcelain and some sort of magical energy and I may be getting the lore wrong but she's so cool-)(Salem helped patch up the hole in her face with a pretty glass mosaic and waaaaa)

-At one point the 8 year old Diamond, and 11 year old Club stood on each others shoulders wearing a trench coat and called themselves "Painsley" (Paeden-Ainsley) to try and get joker drugs. They failed and only got glitter, and it was hilarious

-Olive the scientists experiments with almond water, I genuinely have no recollection of the details alas, but i have been told it was very neat and was unknowable by science. Also he got an entire almond out of it.

-One of the Most Days Ever: our small 8 year old boy made of clay had been recently possessed by a 45 yr old catholic man, who, while he was cooperative at first in helping getting Paeden back, soon realized if this went through he'd die, and so he ran off into the woods after burning the notes, and so candidates were sent to chase after him. It. Did not go well. (while the chasing him down and catching him went quite well, after the catching... not so good)

+There is a dice mechanic for certain actions, and uh. well. Two people rolled to toss knives (and like. intimidation. slight limb removal. he'd already reattached an arm, it would have been fineeeee aha) at Frankenpaeden, and both rolled nat 1s. Bye bye clay boy </3

(Knife to the head </3. Dw Salem resurrected him later on via sacrificing a bit of vasts life force and the boy is back!)

+But it doesn't end there! Oh no! That'd be too simple! Good ol' Queen Dorset of Diamonds himself (the grandmilf in the flesh) who originally sent the candidates out, tells them to head back to the castle and not leave their towers for the rest of the night. He then proceeds to head to the cave in the woods where one of the former candidates (who withdrew to go and become a Joker, changed his name and everything, incidentally also one of the people most attached to the now dead small child) was busy having visions in his emo cave. They did joker drugs mixed with bits of clay from the boy's body to try and bring him back, and well. They did not bring him back. Also Kane/Jahan rolled a 100 on the d100 for the joker drugs, becoming immortal and also insane and kinda possessed by the universe. The player may have left the server, but the guy is apparently still in a joker larvae stage in one of the cupboards. The life cycle of Jokers is deranged (i want to say affectionate but. man)

+if you thought the night's insanity ended there, you'd be wrong! Meanwhile with the candidates, they're all handling the death of the small child in very different ways! Ash, for example, the actual killer? No remorse whatsoever, a simple "Oops," vs Riyo who is very traumatized by all of this, Hugo's who's a little manic about it, and Raevyn, who for context is a and inherently tragic sort of character who literally cannot feel emotions past a certain threshold otherwise their biology fucks them over and purges it, is making smores up in the rafters, and Luci cannot believe these people, "A child has just died-!"

+Oh my god this next bit needs even more context, but up until this point Raevyn and Hugo have been in a very fucked up twin relationship despite not actually being related where Hugo is unhealthily codependent and Raevyn is simply incapable of returning the trust. The players had a cool plot in the works with lots of dominos that were half set up, what with Hugo using a machine from the future to turn his emotions into rocks so he didn't have to deal with them, and eating rocks made from Raevyn's emotions in an effort to be closer to them. Unfortunately, the partially set up dominos fell fast and in wrong directions.

+So anyways, Luci, already having negative feelings toward Hugo, who admittedly doesn't like her either, takes out her own feelings on Hugo along the lines of "What the fuck is wrong with you, eating smores so happily while a child has just DIED, what the fuck, you just stood around giggling as Riyo had a breakdown in the woods!" and then it devolved into a "I had to make sure Raevyn was okay" "OH, FINE job of that you've been doing! Do you know about their breakdown from two days ago? Would you care? Or do you plan on just shoving all your feelings into pebbles and never thinking about any of it again" and one thing leads to another, Hugo devolves into self hate and starts lashing out, accidentally ripping Raevyn's worldview out from under them, and now instead of 1 imminent mental breakdown, we have 2.

+Long story short, things get fucked up, lore is surprisingly hard to summarize, uh, Hugo eventually does die, Raevyn biology hijacks the way they can't feel emotions and shunts the Hugo(ne) memories in that hole and so now they have Hugo-specific amnesia, and the Hugo is replaced by another time travelling version of himself (Newgo).

(It. it sure was a day.)

-And so! The next day dawns! "Man," we think to ourselves, "Yesterday sure was wild! I hope nothing too wild happens today so we can process everything!" and then Otterson takes an orange pill from one of the Jokers and gets turned into a Homestuck troll, via hallucinated autocanabalism. I sure wish I was making this up-

(I was in vc when this was going down. Cannot coherently explain the mixture of emotions I felt that day.)

-So now Otterson is a troll! Who eats glass! The glass bit is now a very important part of their character, much in the same way Riyo is pals with The Bear, Raevyn is the Bearer of Baked Goods, and Diego is our four-eyed forest friend who brough mud into Club Tower to sleep in.

+She breaks into all of the towers except Spades to eat their windows, only thwarted by Raevyn bribing it with homemade stained glass so as to not eat the very cool stained glass windows that Spades Tower has.

+Fellow Club, eldritch forest being Diego, is interested in this window-eating endeavor, and the two of them put on silly hats and become "Jeff" and "Codeline Sealson," very impressive window inspectors!

+Having wised to "Jeff's" tricks, it is especially funny when Otterson comes in, rolls a high enough persuasion, causing Luci to believe that Otterson has indeed gone to window-school, and is actually quite experienced in these issues!

+Anyways it turns out there was a gas leak in Clubs Tower. Classic KitC /hj +I also want to share the glory that were the matched statuses from that day:

-as a Raevyn with wings i speak for the birds. please don't eat our windows </3

-gasleak gatekeep girlboss

-gasleak glassbreak, gayboss.

-i have pelicans in my brain (also, why is there So Much Glass in the courtyard???)

-Out of sight, out of mind, What windows?

-windows ar3 sooooo tast3y!!!! >:)!!!

-[Looking over at the from afar.] Clubs are getting carbon monoxide poisoning?

-So! Sideplot time! Raevyn, Newgo, and Otterson are all down bad for one of their respective royalties, Queen September of Spades, King Shams of Spades, and King Caius of Clubs. Otterson seduces Caius with pipebombs, gifts of rat-children, and simply by being herself. Caius is captivated by her cowtroll swag. Hugo fails miserably by playing into Shams insecurities. Raevyn's crush never gets off the ground due to a mixture of denial, and also the mod in charge of September's tupper being very busy. Otterson is the sole winner!! Royal Romancers you were such fun up until the hiatus was announced </3

-Oh yeah Otterson also set a bunch of bear traps out once. It was great, even if none of the character appreciated it. She also got caught in one of her own traps fhdjfhdskfhs

-other fun things to note, there are a lot of animal companions, The Bear, which is actually an unfathomable eldritch creature who knows everything and likes baked goods (although it does seem to have gotten a taste for meat recently... goddamn it ottey/j) Ollie the mouse <3 who was orignally gifted to Luci, but she couldn't keep it bc Salem's raven Omen, technically a part of themself, would have eaten Ollie, so Ollie lives in Spades Tower with Page now. There is also a tiny cat-shaped fluffball named Acheron who goes by "Ghost," bc he's a bitch and hates everyone and only lets Raevyn know its name. Not actually a cat, but who really knows what they are. There is also some funky magic dog named Charon who is attached to and protects Otterson, and has a very charged hatred and rivalry with Acheron, it's very funny. Olive also build an android spider who became sentient an unionized <3 love to see it <3 Arsenic my beloved <3

-dreamscapes arc <3

-Now that the server has been placed on hiatus, the players were given free reign. I do wonder if the Universe (the mods) hide in fear of what they have inadvertently created- And so now it's time to bring in the other ocs~! Starting with Zoran my beloved, Luci's wretched brother the dreamwalker <3 (Entertainingly, ae was teased during a previous Luci-Raevyn conversation, where Raevyn promised they'd run aer over with their motorcycle if he ever showed up. Unfortunately for Luci, Raeven and Zoran have since developed a gay relationship. I and Raevyn are regularly bullied for our bad taste, as though it's not all going to go spiraling anyways smh /hj)

"zoran is great because for the first hour of knowing him aes charming and funny and normal and then out of left field he says some shit like “it’s not MY fault her best friend got stabbed. idk why luci was so upset about it” and your like Oh. Bastard." -quote from kitc server

+Salem, our eldritch bird person who is also the personification of healing from grief and has some powers over dreams is visited by this silly little gayass who judges the forest, and then kidnaps Salem via dream to meet his mother, the evil mad scientist dr. milf /j (please I don't want to call her that why must everyone continue saying it-) who tries to experiment on vast, but is thwarted by Salem being cool and having dream powers. Justified grudge against Zoran is held. +Meanwhile~! Little gayboy is off having fun and poking around other people's dreams, goes around causing mayhem and eats glass with Otterson, visits a cool tea house with Hugo, gets lots of enrichment from Raevyn's unhinged dreamscape with a alice in wonderlandesque chase scene, and a fancy tea party where they are attacked by a giant monster and card soldiers, and then take him to see the wishing tree. They also give aer the crown from the monster they defeated before waking up. gay people <3

+And so Zoran returns to visit Salem, where ae is promptly cursed to feel all the grief he's ever caused via doing his mother's dirty work and killing a lot of people. I should also mention he feels no remorse and is just kinda like "You gotta do what you gotta do, people die all the time." Salem fucking hates him. Sorry gayboy, welcome to The Horrors. It will not get better for you from here.

+Anyways so now Zoran is utterly haunted by The Horrors (Grief) and in aer efforts to ignore it, he goes off to hang out in dreams. He visits Otterson, and ae ends up finding out a little too much about their trauma, and she is not thrilled. He also is a bitch who is far too blasé about the corpse of her son he finds in the dreamscape. He is evicted from the premises.

+He then visits Olive the scientists dream! Finally someone who is normal about death! There is very cool floral imagery growing from the body of an unkillable patient. It's so cool

+Zoran's ass gets kicked by the personification of creation and art, physically (got yoinked out of the mirror) and also psychologically. Rip little gayboy you really are suffering The Horrors.

+Afterwards he visits Raevyn dreams once again, to fulfil their promises of stealing another crown so the two of them could match, there are so many fun visuals I'm so sorry I can't just show them all, but commit crime and theft in fancy outfits and they dance again, but the roles are switched from the tea party where Zoran dipped Raevyn, and now Raevyn's the one spinning aer around, I am so normal about Raeran I promise- So they get the crown, Zoran places it on Raevyn's head the way they did the same for him previously, and then that one wakes up, leaving Zoran along </3

+Soothed slightly from Eminence-induced horrors, Zoran visits Hugo again! But instead of a nice little tea shop, welcome to a warped coliseum where you get to watch a twisted memory from the shade of Hugone! For context, the memory was Hugone and Raevyn having to fight "to the death" (planning on faking it, bc of Raevyn's regenerative ability) to escape this planet they were stuck on, but as is the way with dreams, things get a little fuzzy around the edges, and the Hugo in the arena ends up graphically murdering Dream!Raevyn. Good lord poor gayboy, so sorry about you having to witness this- Newgo also ends up losing lucidity, and ends up in Hugone's place, where the Raevyn's corpse comes alive in a nightmarish way and rips his heart out. Newgo takes this very well, and calls the actual Raevyn a heartless bitch in responce. The twins are not okay.

+So now Zoran is really just out here having a time, huh? Honestly I tend to forget how terrible he is simply bc he's just out here taking L after L, but now he's poking around the mirrors and he mimics Page's reflection but moves differently, and scares Page. Admittedly it is not hard to scare Page, but still. Zoran is captivated by Ollie the mouse who hates him <3 what can I say the animals hate his vibes. During this, Page inadvertently gives Zoran a link to the world of kitc so he can come out of the mirrors in the form of a rubber ball... whoops? Dw Zoran does not have the time to use this power for evil, busy as ae is with The Horrors +Zoran then facilitates a shared dreamscape between Otterson, Hugo, Raevyn, and also Otterson's recently mentioned cousin Bunnyman. Hugo and Bunnyman spend the dream flirting via eating grenades and blowing up castles. Raevyn and Zoran spend the dream flirting via eating lit grenades and also liquid stardust. Turns out that stardust was the real deal aha and now Raevyn's biology has integrated it and so that one has glowing freckles and their hair is starting to be streaked a glowing white. There are more consequences that are yet to be seen. Poor Otterson spends the dream sad and alone as the 5th wheel </3

+Time again for Zoran to visit the waking world! Luci has learned about her wretched brother visiting and Is Not Happy About It. She heard through the grapevine her good friend Raevyn who is kind and desperately needs help, is friends with Zoran. And also likes him. If she hadn't already been one of the main receivers of Raevyn lore she'd probably be wondering what on earth happened in that one's life for them to like Zoran. Unfortunately, she's got a pretty good idea.

+It's through her that Page learns he's given Zoran a link to the waking world, and he freaks out, and manages to trick the ball out of Zoran's grasp, by suggesting a game of catch. Special catch... Where you catch the ball in your mouth. By some miracle, he manages to catch the ball, and then sprints away, before immediately getting caught by one of Otterson's bear traps. Rip.

+It's also fun to note that all of Page's effort was for naught, as Raevyn, horrified by the knowledge Zoran hasn't ever really eaten sweets, living mostly in mirrors and eating dream food as ae does, and bakes up a storm in the kitchen, actively using themself as an anchor to get aer out of the mirror, before feeding him many baked goods and decorating a cake together in a very gay way, before Luci crashes the part, physically drags Raevyn away, and shoos Zoran back into the mirror. you go girlboss

+Zoran's back to dreamwalking again, there's a shared dreamscape between Otterson and Roulx, resident Ghost who is unaware of that fact, and also Eminence is there. He is sunk into the ground bc no one there likes him </3 +oh yeah he also visited an Eminence dream at one point and got owned again (dropped in a void) I admit I am focusing a lot on Zoran here but also man. Ae's got his fingers into almost every pie, and also all of them are hitting him right in the face

+So let's take a break from Zoran for a bit, Salem and Luci are very cute and very gay together, and now that the divorce arc is over (wait did i mention divorce arc??? fuck i'm tired it's fine just know that it happened) they're on their engagement arc! Otterson enables and also helps get the ring for Salem, Raevyn helps Salem pick out an outfit for proposal date, and then!! Saluci proposal!!! Gay people <3

-There's another Raeran dream <3 They get to go see a bit of Raevyn's past, there is a teaser to the upcoming events where those two will venture into the depths of Raevyn's trauma to hopefully help undo all the damage and make it so they can access their emotions again, Zoran triggers a pop-up event and gets kidnapped and Raevyn goes and saves him <3 They have another cool fight scene, and then,,,,, and then,,,,, The Horrors start to catch up to Zoran and we get the dialogue: "You should go. I'm- [he laughs] I'm fine, really!! There's got to be more fun things for you to do than this!! I wouldn't to keep you waiting!" "My dear 'Ran, it's you that makes the adventures fun [Ae can tell that they mean it sincerely] I'm happy to wait with you as long as you need" (I am so normal about Raeran I promise, so so normal-) +okay man so it's been hours and I'm tired so we're gonna go a little faster, but Zoran visits more dreams, meets the Hugo family, and then stumbles into Otterson's dreams and makes. all the wrong decisions. and accidentally kills Otterson bc he was told if he killed this [Otterson first name reveal] ae'd get to know where Otterson was, and also she looked the way she did when she was human, and not homestucked. So yeah, he goes to apologise IRL and is vibed checked by Charon the magical dog, who Zoran thinks is a cat. I will never get over that/pos +Charon hates him. Zoran's terrible vibes continue to annoy the animal companions <3 Oh yeah and I think Page bit Zoran around this time as well- +But anyways! Meanwhile, with Saluci, everything was going a little too well and the evil writers couldn't have that! So uh whoops, Luci's memories of Salem have been stolen, just as she once warned could happen.... time to go track down the little gayboy and threaten him until ae spills the beans ig

+Salem uses dream powers to go mucking around looking for Zoran with Luci, and they eventually find him in Raevyn's dream, doing some very gay flirt-sparring. Raevyn's taste is once again insulted, and Zoran is dreamnapped from their arms.

+Salem then proceeds to torture Zoran with the grief curse in hopes to get aer to give back the memories. It doesn't work, but hey! Luci was into it! Salem is morally opposed but too gay to care. Anyways, seeing as how this isn't going to work, Luci kills Zoran, the third Luci sibling shows up, and they work out a deal to get Luci's memories back in exchange for a favor from Salem. The gay people are back in action!! Rip to Zoran though ae's just Not Having A Good Time, and it'll only get worse!

+So you've just been killed, and now you want to go hang out with a friend in their dreams! Well, sorry gayboy but you really picked the wrong friend.... Zoran back to making the wrong choices in Ottey dreams, culminating in Otterson fucking losing it/pos and eating him alive, which is neat bc as an artificial being the squishy insides as a result of aer being bound by the dreamscape was very cool and evocative,,,, Anyways his death summons the third of the sibling Kier again, who calls him cringe as he's picking back up the body to be repaired, again, who Otterson promptly flirts with over Zoran's dead body. Zoran is naturally offended by this and complains to Raevyn later on. "She murdered me. Utterly ruined my outfit with blood. Ate a bit my face, too. And worst of all!!! I think she was hitting on Kier!!! Over my dead body!!"

+But yeah! It's finally time for the regularly scheduled break from The Horrors! Welcome to Raevyn's very cool masquerade dream~! More delightful imagery, I can't stop thinking about the color coordination of Raeran, Raevyn with their white and lavender ombre dress and silver mask contrasting to black hair, vs Zoran white hair, black mask, black and dark purple suit and cape and WAH

(I'm sorry that i don't have the energy to go into it rn, but they're so narratively compatible and their motifs and outlooks fit so well and they make me insane)

But so that's more or less how it's going in kitc-verse! I'd apologise about the info dump but I'm afraid I'm not actually too sorry about it, and the brainrot has me by the throat, I can't wait to see how all the things unfold Hope you enjoyed the un-asked for infodump in exchange for the tragic news kitc is not actually a piece of consumable media no matter how much I wish it was!

[tatsumi-harem-chronicles]

the aira superfan the world collection

mod toku here. so while mod pensive was making an “aira has hanahaki because of his love of idols as a whole” au (read here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3047022) i was also pitching in with some…suggestions… so without any further ado enjoy my efforts to contribute to the aira angst extended lore (with the added bonus of asta torture) (note that the formatting is a bit chunky cus these are all discord messages ✌️) 1/10

toku | pensive | asta

(context: there’s a point in the au where aira, trying his best during his early days at yumenosaki, gets invited to join/form several units with various classmates, all of which later disbanding due to a lack of audience; this is my proposed result to that) concept: he's spent so long working so incredibly hard to get his career, his dream, somewhere to the point where's he's practically living in his idol uniform/practice outfit and he's losing sleep over it, he can't find the time to eat when he might miss a job opening, a free gig, some kind of opportunity to make the time really count and it culminates when he like passes out in class and doesn't wake up until long past the end of the day to which point the staff send him home for the rest of the week to rest up because "it would reflect badly on the academy if this were to have happened anywhere public. your choices are your own but we cannot allow the impression that we as an institution actively overwork our idols" and so then he's back in his room for the first time in... a while, actually, and he doesn't know what to do with himself so he lays down and tries to sleep but the need to work, that need that's been settled into his bones over the past weeks comes bounding towards him like an overactive puppy and god even if he can't do idol work he has to do something so he organizes. he looks at all his hard-collected merchandise, his most precious treasures, and cleans off the thing dust settled over them (...when did that get there?) and repositions them on his desk so they better reflect the seniors he's seen around campus (because sakuma rei and tenshouin eichi would never be within that distance of each other) and he's thinking about school and how yumenosaki has produced so many wonderful, loveable, spectacular idols and he just can't make the cut and feels a tickle in his throat when he almost forgets to add a "yet" to the end of that sentence and suddenly the clothes he's wearing chafe against him and his head is too hot, his hands are too sweaty and fuck he has to take a shower and when he gets out he finds that he, somehow, can't even look at the majority of his wardrobe filled to the brim with more and more idol merch so he digs for something that won't remind him of the grand stage he'd finally reached, even if it was empty when he stood on it, and of the crowds he never saw and the small boxes of pins and stickers bulk-ordered in an hope-filled meeting that they never actually sold and he finds a worn shirt from an old anime, something about magic-wielding detectives?, that he used to like watching and he puts it on and when his throat and those traitorous lungs feel the ever slightest bit of reprieve for the first time in so, so long because he's staring resolutely at that one patch of wall he never quite found a poster the right size for, finally wearing something that's not his uniform, or training gear, or any kind of merch and he's not thinking of idols but he's never not thinking of idols so, of course, he thinks of idols and then it comes back with that same insufferable tickle and his mouth is dry and he wants to cry and can't pinpoint just one "why"

pensive ur right aira suffering is so fun :D join me IM PUNCHING YOU BOTH IM SHAKING AND SOBBING GET AWAY FROM HIM /joke

[inukag-archive]

Hello! I’m looking for recommendations for a particular trope/genre: Feudal Era AU as @superpixie42 would say. Fics that are Canon-era (Inuyasha-world without Inuyasha plot) but are not quite canon-divergent or fix-it? I’m thinking along the lines of Out of The Woods (Miss_Dyana), Kintsugi, If We Fall Anyway (both Evilillusions), for example. Any other genre/rating is good. Thank you! 💓

Hey @anisaanisa, it's no secret this is one of Mod Pixie's favorite AUs, so thank you for the chance to put this one together!

Shelter by @lavendertwilight89 (E)

Summary: Song fic inspired Stuck with You and Shelter. Inuyasha has been alone most of his life and one moonless night he gets caught up with a young priestess. She saves him and he, in return, helps her. What he doesn't realize is, this priestess holds a lot of secrets which may or may not cost both of them their lives... 

--

Demon Nature by @shardetector (E)

Summary: He spoke low and gently, although his voice was gruff with his demon still so close to the surface, “You saved me wench, now I’ll repay the favor.” With that, his muscles bunched in his legs as he sprung up and out of the well, a red blur in the night as he made his way through the forest to his destination. His precious cargo held safely to his chest, as he raced to save her with his demonic speed. 

--

there's no place (for us/like home) by guardianKarenterrier (G)

Summary: Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Inuyasha starts to creep closer to the fire at night. Now that he's not so injured, he's begun to vanish into the woods and come back to throw down rabbits and once a badger at the side of the hut, and Kagome hasn't had to worry about finding enough to eat as the air starts to turn colder. He hardly ever talks to them, or at all, and he won't come close enough to touch- he never comes as close as he had that first day again, but he stays. She's not sure why he stays, but she's glad that he does. 

--

Comfort Food by @splendentgoddess (E)

Summary: Feudal AU one-shot. An ex-miko-in-training stumbles upon a seemingly human man alone in the woods during the moonless night. He seems all alone in the world - just like her. Goodness, when was the last time he had a decent meal? 

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Half-Breed’s Wife by @gypsin (M)

Summary: On the night of the new moon, a runaway girl stumbles into Inuyasha's life. Little did he realize then what he would be undertaking by saving her. But when Kagome has nowhere else to go will he leave her to her fate Or will he rise to the occasion? And what will the humans think? 

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Your Lying Smile by @dawnrider (M)

Summary: A beautiful day by the river quickly takes a turn, taking control of her life completely out of Kagome's hands. Her "rescuer" becomes something else entirely before she can get a word in edgewise. A Feudal-esue AU 

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We Are Family by @theladyofthewest (T)

Summary: Imagine a world in which the Inu No Taisho lived to raise his sons together, as brothers. Inuyasha never had to learn to survive on his own, he never met Kikyo, never heard of the Shikon Jewel. Now imagine if Kagome fell into this world instead of the one she did in canon. Imagine if she and Inuyasha had ... parental supervision. 

--

Oblivion @meggz0rz (M)

Summary: Feudal-era Japan. A war to the death between youkai and humankind. Kagome, rebellious daughter of a noble family, is not about to let her grandfather sacrifice himself in battle. So she takes his place, dressed as a boy and ready to fight to survive. But in love and war, things are rarely as they seem, and there is a spy in the army ranks who just might be Kagome's downfall... 

--

Everybody Wants To Be An Inuyoukai by @superpixie42 (T)

Summary: A birthday one-shot for kstewdeux very vaguely based on the plot of the Aristocats. When Kagome, newly widowed with a newborn son, is named the heir of her mother-in-law's enormous estate things suddenly go from bad to worse. She's drugged, kidnaped, and left for dead on the side of the road. With the help of some unexpected new friends, Kagome finds herself questioning: does she even want to make it back home? 

--

The Shogun’s Daughter by @shnuggletea (E)

Summary: Kagome's father passed away when she was just a child but his Shogun status still makes her a valuable bride to a Lord of lands that border their village. Lord Inuyasha Tashio is pushed by the council into marriage, assured his new bride was an excellent choice. All their fears and anxiety are amplified when they meet. 

--

Timeless and Forbidden Love by lunalibro (M)

Summary: Once, a long long time ago in Japan, demons and other horrid monsters out of nightmares roamed the lands. Wars were never-ending, famine, death and bloodshed abound. Admist this chaos, there lived a great priestess named Midoriko who was renowned throughout for not only her incredible power and fighting prowess, but also for ethereal beauty. She defeated countless demons and staved off many dark evils as the protector of humankind. Eventually, Midoriko fell in love and birthed twin daughters. The eldest was named Kikyo and the youngest was named Kagome, While alike in looks, the sisters were complete opposites. Naturally, these girls inherited their mother’s immense powers. From a young age, Midoriko trained them in combat and in the spiritual arts. The sisters grew in strength and looks. However, Kikyo’s powers had matured far greater than that of her sister’s. Midoriko decided Kikyo shall be the one to take her place as the new protector of Musashi. From then on, Kagome would find herself living in her sister’s shadow. Maybe with the help of a young half-demon named InuYasha, Kagome could realize her worth and possibly fall in love in the process. A forbidden love that will last throughout time. 

--

Beauty and the Hanyou by mishelledor23 (M)

Summary: Inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but Inuyasha style! The terrible half-demon prince Inuyasha is under a fifty-year old curse that keeps him trapped inside his castle. Can Kagome, the reluctant miko-in-training become his friend? Maybe even his love? InuXKag, MirXSan. Lemons and language in later chapters! 

--

For Better or Worse by Anime Wildfire

Summary: Kagome, priestess in training, turns her life upside down when she saves the life of the half demon Inuyasha… and accidentally finds herself bound to him via pesky subjugation beads. This is not how she thought her day- or her life- was going to go.

--

By the Match, Not the Flame by @goshinote (M)

Summary:  Inuyasha is a hellbent hanyo on a mission for revenge. Kagome is a wanted miko on the run. Their intentions align in more ways than one, but secrets abound between them as they partner up during their travels. With an inevitable and impending betrayal looming over them, the pressure rises with every day they spend moving closer to the enemy’s clutches.

--

A Private Affair by JeremyMarsh (T)

Summary:  During a simple patrol operation, Inuyasha, a general in a war between demons and humans that has been going on for two years now, goes all the way across enemy territory to reach the village where his betrothed lived before the conflict broke out. Here he is discovered by her younger sister who intentionally reveals something to him that she shouldn't have.

Shocked, Inuyasha decides to embark on a new and dangerous mission that could cost him his life or worse.

--

Koi no Yokan by @keichanz (E)

Summary: Koi no Yokan: The feeling when you meet someone that you’re bound to fall in love.

A prince discovering a deeper meaning to seemingly random hordes of bloodthirsty demons. A young woman unwillingly sold to a brothel by uncaring relatives, frightened and alone. How could these two circumstances possibly be related?

We are also including the works Anisa mentioned in the ask for those who are unfamiliar

Out of the Woods by @dyaz-stories

Summary: After the murder of Kikyo, the local priestess, the villagers start leaving offerings to the forest's god, who they think they've angered. Kagome, called to the village to replace her cousin, finds out, too late, just how far they're willing to go when they use her as the month's sacrifice. She decides not to go down without a fight — except that, instead of an angry god, she finds herself faced with a hungry half-demon, who's very annoyed he won't be getting a food offering for the month. “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s my food?” “Oh I’m sorry, am I not a sacrifice satisfying enough?” 

--

Kinstugi by @soliska

Summary: AU. Failing to be chosen as her village's miko, Kagome had resigned herself to a humble life. An unexpected summons returns her to the city where she's forced to reconcile the taught virtues and the spiralling, warped reality created by those that abuse their power. She holds the key to repairing the fracture between humans and youkai, and the freedom of her new hanyou friend.

--

If We Fall Anyway by @soliska

Summary: What if the shikon jewel didn’t exist and Naraku never came to be? What if Kagome fell down the well anyway and met a gruff, young inu-hanyou. Would they still become friends? What would be their story? A tale told in snippets. 

[tiziphone]

tisiphone ,  an  introduction .

 below   the   cut   is   a   quick   and  dirty   informal   old   school   introduction   to   tis   to   give   you   all   a   vibe   rundown   while   i   make   up   a   biography  !   just   some   general   vibes   etc   etfc .   subject   to   revision   as   i   plot  with   more   of   the   angels   ‘round   these   parts .   you   can   find   my   stats   page   here   for   the   rl   important   bits .

 first   thing   about   tis   that’s   ode   important   to   note   is   that   they’re   a   selective   mute   &   always   have   been .   even   today ,   among   the   people   they’re   closest   to ,  i . e .   asphodels ,   tis   is   generally   quite   reserved .   outside   of   work ,   they   routinely   go   through   phases   of   no   verbal  communication .

 tis   &   the   other   children   of   the   house   of   hades   developed   their   own   insular   form   of   sign   language   for   tisi .   (  haaaahaaaa   you  let   kb   take   an   asphodel   now   you   get   a   god   modded   language   system   haaaahaaaaa   suck   it  )   aside   from   just   being   tisi’s   favored   form   of   communication ,   it   lends   itself   to   practicality   in   terms   of   espionage .   there’s   always   a   benefit   to   silent   communication ,   especially   the   type   that’s   specific   to   only   a  select   group   of   people .   

 given   that   they   were   found   as   an   infant ,   tisiphone   has   lived   in   the   house   of   hades   their   entire   life .   they   have   an   overwhelming   sense   of   loyalty  /  duty   to   nyx  &   hades ,  the   asphodels  &  khton .   rarely ,  if   ever ,   says   no   to   an   ask .

 at   elysium ,   tisiphone   falls   operates   the   alias   of   petra .   a   bubbly ,   glam ,   and   incredibly   competent   dealer .   favored   by   the   highest   rollers .   see   my   pinterest   for   aesthetic   ref .   this   takes   a  lot   of   energy   out   of   tis .   she   does   it   because  it’s   remarkably   effective ,   money  wise ,   and   also   because   lying   to   people   to   better   steal   their   money   is   literally   her   whole   idea   of   fun .   playing   a   part   makes   it   easier ,   makes   it   exciting .   but   it   wipes   her   social   battery .   

 knowing   tisiphone   and   then   seeing   them   in   action   at   work   is   likely   jarring   the   first   time .   (  or   meeting   them   at   work   then   catching   them   unawares   elsewhere  ) .   it’s   complete   night   and   day .

 so   withdrawn   they   swing   around   to   unsettling .   big   starer .   will   walk   away   from   you   mid  -  conversation   if   they’re   annoyed   enough .   very  catlike .   suuuuch   a   little   weirdo .   but   also   probably   the   chillest   person   you   know .

 ambitious   &   driven   by   nature .   very   concerned   with   the   general   welfare   of   people .   specifically   people   from   tartarus .   specifically   specifically   any   and   all   children   of   tartarus .   

 rather   accustomed   to   violence   &   criminal   activity .   generally   blasé   about   and   unfazed   by   such   things .   despite   this ,   and   having   full   fury   training   &   all ,   tisiphone   doesn’t   find   herself   growing   violent   –––   a   last   resort   kinda   person .  

 along   with   that ,   they’re   quite   slow   to   anger .   a   simmerer .   very   stoic .   will   tell   you   what   to   do ,   and   will   throw   an   i   told   you   so   in   your   face ,  but   rarely   if   ever   loses   her   temper .   quietly   bossy .

 doesn’t   drink   or   do   drugs  !   take   THAT   hermes   self   insert   allegations .   tis   gets   drunk   like   once   a   year   and   it   ends   with   some   wild   shit   happening   every   time .   usually   petty  crime .   

 loves   fucking   with   people .   they’ll   pick   pocket   you   for   shits   and   gigs .   sneak   up   on   you .   whip   a   throwing   knife   in   your   general   direction .   torment   you   with   a   never   ending   card   trick .   they   have   a   very   specific   and   somewhat   twisted   sense   of   humor .   so   enjoy   that .

 always   listening .   incredibly   observant .   paying   attention   alllll   the   time .   like   that   shit   doesn’t   turn   off .

 7   years   ago   tisiphone   had   to   kill   a   man   in   self   defense   outside   of   elysium .   she   was   being   stalked .   it   was   a   whole   thing .   she   didn’t   speak   for   months ,   and   she’s   never   been   the   same .

 this   goes   without   saying ,   but  :   really ,   really   good   at   cards .   specifically   poker ,   because   it’s   more   about   understanding   and   breaking   apart   your   opponent   than   the   game   itself .   (  she   loooooves   to  psychologically   torment   someone   over   a   game .  )   tis   knew   how   to   keep   a   blackjack   count   at   ten .   started   working   at   the   casino   at   thirteen .   

 speaking   of ,   tis   is   hyper   competitive .   over   everything .   all   the   time .   i’m   serious .   will   turn   anything   and   everything   into   a   game   and   then   focus   all   of   their   efforts   into   destroying   you   at   it .   there   is   no   friendly   game   of   go   fish   with   tisiphone .   only   anguish   as   she   crushes   your   hopes   and   dreams .  

 more   to   come   but   if   i   don’t   post   this   and   start   writing   i   think   i’ll   actually  ?   explode  ?

[the-order-of-fools]

Also how about the knights reacting to the reader asking them out if it hasnt already been done?

You're not surprised when King Knight puts a hand on his chest and laughs. Since the very first moment you decided to ask him out, you were prepared for a tangent. You're lucky, so very lucky for he has been courted numerous times, yet has refused hundreds - NO - thousands of suitors. You? You're special. You should be honored, His Majesty has granted you the right to feast your eyes upon his naked form, which isn't any kind of  privilege - it's a royal, privilege, you're reminded for the fifth time in a row knowing damn well that he hasn't fucked anyone but his pillow.

Somehow, that little crazy alchemist known as Plague Knight was able to steal your heart. He's not even slightly aware, though - or at least he wasn't until you made up your mind and asked him out on a date. You were ready for any explosive concoction he could throw at you, or him eventually bursting out into wild laughter. There was no turning back. You expected the worst, yet you were met with an uncharacteristically quiet Plague Knight. He stared at you in silence, then turned his gaze to the ground while tapping his index fingers together, hiding his face under his hood. You swore you could feel him blush behind the mask (you were painfully aware of his flustered state). You were about to speak when he suddenly threw a vial at his feet, disappearing in a colorful cloud. Days later, you're still left without an answer... Oh wait, isn't that a Plague Minion hurriedly making his way to you?

You're determined to seduce the bounty hunter with nothing but wits and overbearing riches. You've made a habit of safely infiltrating the Iron Whale without running the risk of losing your limbs to any of the hostile sea life or crew member. Gold has been your greatest ally. The first few times you came in empty-handed, you were unceremoniously kicked off the ship. When you started bringing gold, Treasure Knight seemed to tolerate your presence. Things haven’t changed on bit. However, he appears completely uninterested in you - he has his eyes locked on the gold, his hands typing away, counting his growing riches. Maybe... just maybe... you could break into his vault, staple gold coins to your body and lay down in the sexiest pose you can muster... just to seduce the sea hunk.

Specter Knight constantly tells himself he should have never left the Tower to look for knights, as he accidentally bumped into you on his way out - and boy, you have never left him alone from that day on. He doesn't know what went through your head, a huge part of him doesn't want to know, but he always remains baffled at your attempts to catch his attention. This time, you have decided to sneak into his lair, routing every single boneclang sent after you. Even the Super Skeletons are scared of you now, for you have faced the mightiest of them with a fierceness that ensured your immediate victory. All of this... to finally get to him. He is already waiting for your arrival, scythe in hand, ready to engage in combat when you finally show up, ready to... ask him out. Yes. You have mustered up all of your strength and recklessness only to ask the Lord of the undead on a date, to his utter surprise.

Warriors are a common sight. They roam the world fighting for honor, justice and other such stereotypical ideals. You're well aware of Polar Knight’s tender side, you have caught wind of it while spying on him and his Spinwolves, a morally questionable, but understandable, activity. He must want you to deck him so hard, you think as you watch a Spinwolf nearly tear through his arm. You're surprised they haven't killed each other by now, proof of his strength (and that of the Spinwolf's ability to dodge giant snow shovels). Yes, you know how to gain his favor! You must buy a bigger shovel and train! That's the only way, no other options exist! You find yourself with a broken arm trying to mask your pain with smooth words and eyebrow wiggles. He doesn't fall for it due to his extreme intelligence and the ice cubes frozen to your eyelids. He more or less drags you away to what you assume to be your impending doom, patches you up, and silently hmphs, a clear sign of mercy. When you offhandedly remark that you'll never manage to go one a date with him at this rate, he utters these words: "You already have." Your frosty eyelids fuse to your cheeks

Most may wonder how you have ended up crushing on the tiny engineer, as he almost never leaves his crafting table. Your chance encounter with him may be the product of divine intervention. Still, you can't help but feel the need to ask the little man on a date. You already know where to find him, which is already a good starting point. You sneak into the Clockwork Tower, admiring the incredible works of engineering that have brought the place to life. You find Tinker Knight working on a project, he's totally focused on his work as you expected. You're free to take a seat and watch him as he fixes gears and links cables. Finally you see him sit back and sigh out of relief, and it's right then that he notices you. He would have jumped back and thrown a wrench at you, if the sparkle in your eyes and the praise you started giving him didn't stop him. You also ask him on a date between one word and another, a manipulative move, but somewhat romantic... you hope. You can hear the gears turning in his sleep deprived brain. He’s currently a little too confused and taken aback to process your words correctly - having spent time with him in his room is already a win for you, anyway. Soon, you’ll get to fuck him on his giant robot.

You would describe yourself as a responsible person, you muse after your near death experience. You're familiar with the Flying Machine, it's crew and their rowdy captain. You're fond of them, especially Propeller Knight. Your eyes have caught sight of his expert acrobatics many times, it's no surprise you wish to copy those very same techniques, except, you want to outmaneuver him. If one wants to date another, then they must assert dominance through theatrical skills. You're sure of it, you have read that in a biology book, only the melodramatic can breed. Your plan, rather obtusely, fails. You attempted to backflip from the upper deck of the ship to ridge of the lowest platform, which almost led to your demise. Thankfully, Propeller was there to catch you and managed to later brush off your panicked attempts to drag him down with you. So here you sit, drinking water with a blanket over your shaking body, Propeller calmly talking to you, holding the very expensive glass to your lips as your trembling hands attempt to hold it still.

You're aware of Mole Knight's dedication to his work and you greatly admire him for it. You also happen to share the same interest that keeps the ardent Knight focused on digging. Perhaps you’re less of a history buff and artifact enthusiast than he is, but you're not letting this put you down. Mole Knight seems to be quite interested in the history of the Ancient Mole civilization - because of his armor... you suppose? or maybe the armor is a consequence of it? Anyhow, you happen to have found half of a coin belonging to that era. Although, a bit of volcanic stone is attached to the item (you hope he won't mind). You gift the tiny object to the knight, watch him literally flare up and jump around like you had just given candy to a kid, then drag you to his collection and start rambling on about his discoveries and how happy he is to have found someone who shares his interest. You might have not seen it coming, but you're going on a date with him at his personal museum and you couldn't be prouder.

There is only one way to win the edgy, Hot-Topic fucker's heart. You push him against the wall, force his hands over his head, put your index under his chin and look him straight in the fucking eye like you want to tear his ass inside out. His red spandex cannot hide the rock hard boner. He has become your personal bitch.

You bow before the Troupple King and ask for ichor. You wink, specifying what kind of ichor you require. He raises his eyebrows up to the sky: "I shall respect thy wish for you have been kind towards my troupples." Holy shit, you're going to fuck a fish tonight

~Mod Propeller and -Mod Tinker

[ronnytherandom]

I forgot to watch content all week so i wrote about games ive been playing

9/2/2021: The Truman Show

You should fear your fears but embrace them and use them to guide you into the unknown, to explore and experience what life has to offer. Fear stands between you and the fullest experience of life so you must pass through it to better yourself. Heed not the walls built about you and the chains made to hold you. Though the architects insist it will preserve your life, containment is anathema to life. Do not take in faith the benevolence of powers that be; instead trust those who would support and liberate you, guide you through fear and into life.

As best I can lay it out, I think this is the philosophy of the Truman show but there is so much more to read into it also. There is critique of systems of commodification and celebrity (i.e. capitalism) reducing human beings to a consumable good as well as encouragement to find and pursue your goals despite adversity and even sensibility which is also tied to the illusion of economic responsibility. You can’t put a camera inside a human head, you can never “know” them without being an active and intrinsic part of their life, but also there is need for reciprocation. If one half exists with ulterior motive then the entire relationship is rotten; sincere humanity is what creates real connections. Without such your world is fake. A world built around one person is a world where no one can truly live. All these actors have given up basically their entire lives for the sake of watching Truman have his life built around him by outside forces, have allowed themselves to be commodified and dehumanised for the good of one man, Christoph. The man at the top has delusions of grandeur and thinks only of his own bottom line, he cares not for his subjects but simply wants them to do as he tells them because it benefits him to commodify their lives and interactions. Even then he cannot stand to lose control and in seeking to demonstrate Truman’s “realness” he structures his life so thoroughly that eventually there’s no reality left, only a script and adverts. But the people watching still empathise with Truman because everyone in the working class understands what it is to be trapped because real life is our own Truman show and one day we must all pass through fear, step out of the dome and create a real life for ourselves outside of the system of commodification which consumes everyone’s life and removes all realness and sincerity and emotional catharsis from it.

I unreservedly love this film.

14/2/2021: Assorted Game Reviews

Horizon Zero Dawn (Unfinished due to technical issues, 45 hours inc. parts of Frozen Wilds): This game is really cool and really fun. I think it is defined by its incredible setting which somehow creates a fresh feeling post-apocalyptic environment. Said environment creates intriguing alt-future lore and some very interesting environments to explore. I love the machine designs (especially tallnecks!) and was very sad to hear one of their contributing artists passed away recently but I’m glad their work lives on in this visually stunning game. I’m a sucker for Ubisoft-style open world games simply because it tickles a certain kind of itch and somehow this non-Ubisoft game has outdone Ubisoft on their own formula, which is hilarious, but also good for me as running around this world exploring and clearing map markers is engaging fun. Not least because of the combat. I have a minor criticism here that the combat feels slightly awkward on mouse and keyboard, the arrows never seem to go where I’m aiming, but aside from that the experience of fighting is a grand one. Enemies never lose their threat and I love the weak spot system the game employs which makes every tool useful in niche circumstance and rewards curiosity. It specifically manages this in a way that I feel the Witcher series could learn from if it ever returns; by making head on assault less viable and encouraging tactical hunting. I do feel this system makes hunting robots so fun that by contrast hunting humans becomes a chore however, though I noted this improves in the dlc with the addition of humans with elemental weaknesses limited in number as they are. I cannot speak for the story in entirety but what I encountered was pretty good, though I feel as if it was only just really getting going at the point where I could not continue. I find Aloy to be a compelling and well portrayed protagonist and though I can guess about her origin and the ultimate end of the alt-future apocalypse I still want to see how it plays out on screen, so will return to this as soon as I’ve fixed it.

Rimworld (122 hours. Familiar with but do not own Royalty Expansion):

Rimworld is one of those super special games that I don’t think I have a single problem with. Fair warning it can be brutal and is heavily dependent on RNG but this allows it to create truly unique and interesting scenarios on a constant basis. In the wider perspective it could be described as formulaic, with regular cycles of managing the settlement between raids and random events, but the devils in the details. Colonist traits, health and skills dictate how you play and sometimes you’ll be forced to adapt as some colonists simply refuse to perform some tasks. The depth of health particularly amuses me, in that each little part of someone’s body is modelled in a way. If you’re in a firefight you may take a single bullet which grazes your finger and you’re fine. Alternately it could pierce your human leather cowboy hat, your skull and kill you instantly and the game will tell you exactly what happened. The risk/reward element is addictive enough, and that’s without accounting for just how cool it is to see your colony slowly expand. Establishing more and more options for crafting is fun and shows off the full range of different items in the game which is fucking extensive. Between clothing, weapons, armour, sculpture and drugs to name only a few you have the opportunity to create many varied production lines either for your colonists or to trade for money and there is a lot of fun to be had here as well as it is quite satisfying to see psychoid you have grown personally become the cocaine your colonists snort to help them stay awake on limited sleep. From an archaeologist’s perspective it is especially cool to look back over your base and see the hints of how and why structures were built and remember the history of your limitations and development through structure. I think the lore of the universe is really cool too, a very 40k-esque kind of place except with far less order, somehow. But the universe does an excellent job of feeling alive and moving constantly on both a planetary and interstellar level. You can fully believe that while you build wooden shacks to shield yourself from terrifyingly low temperatures there are simultaneously rich pieces of shit living it up on the glitterworld that’s one system over. The music does an excellent job of creating the wild west frontier atmosphere the game cultivates to great effect. Ultimately, for just being a grid with a series of different numbers attached, this game does a fantastic job of creating a compelling, brutal and very real colony management experience. I dont think I can properly put into words the grandness and scope of this one. I didnt even mention the modding scene, which is expansive and tailors to basically any need you could have. The Rim is a terrifying place but theres so much fun to be had.

Factorio (86 hours, mostly 1.1): Having completed a game of Factorio I can tell you reliably that this is one of the best games ever made, thoroughly addictive and fun. If you like numbers, logistics, TRAINS, its gonna be your thing. Not to mention its probably the only documented case of a game with no bugs (so far as official forums are concerned). Strictly speaking this games combat is not the most engrossing thing but good lord do you feel it when you acquire a flamethrower. The way each aspect of the game (production, research, logistics, combat, upgrades for everything therein) feeds into the next is a really well constructed balancing act such that you must experience the full game in order to complete it and I always appreciate this kind of design. I think its one of the best tenets of factory game design especially as its something present in Satisfactory too. Beyond all of this generalised good the game is also excellent in its intricacies, the architecture necessary to build a maximum efficiency base, the level of planning and organisation that can be employed is mind-blowing. Not to mention the mod community, factorion is already an extensive experience and some mad bastards have seen fit to complicate it further, hats off to them. This really is a great moment in gaming.

 Destiny 2 (198 hours, all expansions, played some post Forsaken release, mostly Season of Arrivals onwards, spent roughly £20 on microtransactions):

This is a very interesting and enjoyable experience, but I must say it can be a bit controversial at times. What its does particularly well is moment to moment gameplay and design in all aspects. The game is stunning; between environments, cosmetics, shaders ships and ghosts there’s a vast range of incredible things to see, all rooted in the “pseudo-magi-science” aesthetic it’s got going on. The class design is excellent and you really do feel like you embody this rampaging madman / agile gunman / space wizard archetype, whichever you choose to play. The abilities, especially supers, are very satisfying. Everything has heft and power behind it which can be felt in all aspects of design; sound and animation is top notch. Movement is cool, you can feel how fast you move both on foot and in vehicles and the navigation has a little fun subtlety depending on your class jump, even if you can bounce unpredictably occasionally. But for the love of god why is the wall kick in there? It has only ever served to push me from a ledge into a bottomless pit. You're looking to remove antiquated content? Start there. Some guns are not so good to shoot but there’s such a great range of guns that are fun its like complaining about one drop in an ocean; and enemies are fun to shoot at, each faction distinct in meaningful ways and presenting an effective challenge. Speaking of oceans, that’s one way to describe the lore. I haven’t dived too deep but it keeps going down forever and everything I’ve read is intriguing. As a former Elder Scrolls lore nut this is something I could definitely sink my teeth into, though its much more of a pulpy sci-fi vibe than a pure nonsense vibe. I do think the game has a bit of a loot problem, primarily in regards to the conflict between high stats and looking good. This should never be a conflict, and yes you can apply ornaments to any purple gear but that’s not enough when I spend the entire time grinding power levels and thus must change armour and weapons on a constant basis to progress. This game needs a true transmog system and if not that, rethink how gear power level works. Perhaps rather than earning new instances of gear you always possess a version of it and the loot you acquire in missions just upgrades your instance to your current overall power level? This would serve to do away with the current upgrade system which I think is a needless additional grind. Perhaps it could be retained in using enhancement cores to empower gear as present but necessitating a whole upgrade module to keep your favourite weapon on hand is kind of painful honestly. There is also at present the issue of sunsetting gear, mildly controversial to say the least. If it’s necessary to streamline the game and make it function moving forward so be it but surely loot pools should be adjusted so you can actually get useful loot from older locations? And why sunset personal instances of gear which can be acquired at the regular power level anyway? I had to throw away my favourite bow and hunt down a new version of the exact same weapon for… what reason? I do think destination navigation leaves a little to be desired also. I get that having a physical hub world is meaningful but Destiny does not have a very extroverted community; I can count the times someone noticed me in the tower on one hand. And its not even like there’s fun activities to be found in the same sense as say Deep Rock Galactic, which really does take advantage of its hub. Perhaps for players who simply want to go about their business all of the vendors could be set into a menu system where just clicking an icon takes you to their menu from anywhere in the system rather than, per se, having to go through an entire loading screen (Which takes you to orbit and back) to reach a location which serves simply as the front for four menus. These are established player problems. As a dedicated PvE player I can say that this game is immensely fun in combat and growing in power does feel really good. It’s something I recommend getting into, there’s just some very large creases that need ironing which the Bungie should really take the time to address rather than pushing out new in game content every three months.

[swaps55]

Random Sam headcanons, thanks to some recent Discord questions and back and forth between the RLRO and myself: 

If Sam were a teenager in the 2000s, what would be his favorite band? 

Sam would probably lazily belt out every word of "If I Had A Million Dollars," by Barenaked Ladies, off-key, with emphasis on "haven't you ever wanted a MON-KEY?" And if someone snorted and said, "betcha twenty bucks you can't do One Week," he'd have grinned and won himself $20.

Who was his mentor? 

Anderson is definitely a mentor to Sam, but there was also another very important figure: Guthra Tulak, a one-time krogan shaman who had been ostracized from the Krogan Empire for reasons I haven't figured out yet. I'm still mulling over a lot of the details, but as a post-BAaT, pre-Ascension Project biotic, Sam had astronomical potential but there was no good training program in place for human biotics. 

Enter the Ares Project, a highly classified experiment in which the Alliance brought in Tulak to work with a handful of teens who were not only high in biotic potential, but also had incredible aptitude scores that suggested they'd go far in the Alliance. The thought was that the krogan could provide a completely different approach to the biotics while also giving these kids a chance to learn from one of the most formidable species in the galaxy. It was a brutal program, but Tulak turned out to be a good choice - she was wise and dedicated, if you were willing to do the work. Sam was. He connected with her pretty quickly, and for the first time in his life felt understood by someone. 

In addition to learning biotics, he also wanted to learn about the krogan, and she taught him everything he wanted to know. As such, he feels very comfortable among the krogan people, and "gets" them more than most humans do. Tulak is responsible for Sam's signature biotic fighting style: "if you get in its face fast enough and hit it hard enough, it'll probably stop bothering you." 

What’s something Sam does to indulge himself? 

Sam’s never been a material person outside of his gear, and he’s terrible about spoiling himself. But post-war, Sam gets some equine therapy as part of his healing process, thanks to Mrs. Alenko, who's owned horses her entire life. To Kaidan's horror, Sam decides he likes it and takes up riding as a hobby. Now he constantly comes home with new tack, brushes, etc. Kaidan doesn't know what any of it is for, and 90% of the time Sam doesn't either. Thank goodness Mrs. Alenko does.

Kaidan: Are you...are you modding the horse? 

Sam: ...maybe. 

Kaidan: It's a horse, Sam. Not a gun. 

Sam: That sounds like quitter talk. 

Kaidan: ..... 

Sam: [pats the horse]

What does he name his fish? 

He names all the jellyfish Blasto, except one, which he calls Squishy (Sam has no idea which jellyfish is actually Squishy; when someone asks, he just peers at the tank, pretends to look, and points at one).

Every single fish is named Kevin. Every one. Picture him scooping a dead one out of the tank with a heartfelt, "I really liked Kevin," right before dumping a new Kevin into the tank.

He convinces Garrus that Kevin is really just a human word for "fish." 

"Not according to my translator," Garrus says with a healthy dose of skepticism, because he's been down this road before. 

 "It's a slang term," Sam swears. 

Eventually Garrus is reluctantly convinced, because Sam really is the type who would just call his fucking fish, "fish." So Garrus starts referring to fish as "kevin." Even does it once when ordering sushi, which is when he learns that of course it's all bullshit, really, he knows better, but he's in so deep at this point he's going to go down with that ship, and continues calling fish Kevin with a "fight me about it" attitude. 

So Sam says, you know what, fuck it, fish=kevin, now and for always, and has in fact ordered “swordkevin” at a very nice restaurant, even though Garrus was millions of lightyears away. That was one of those moments when Kaidan had to remind himself that he loves this man.

[princesskokichi]

byakuya taking care of his s/o while they have a panic attack

this was a little complicated to write because byakuya is a complex character & i feel like i made him a bit too ooc but there’s not much i can do about that now 

however i still enjoyed writing it a lot !! i feel like i wrote less of how he was helping you and more of how much he cares for you & watches over you so you don’t have a panic attack in the first place tbh - mod kokichi

- byakuya was more than aware of your extreme anxiety

- in fact it was because of a panic attack that he originally found out, even though you refused to let him help you back then because you felt embarrassed about that part of your life

- while there was no way he was going to force you to let him help if you didn't want him to

- byakuya wasn't going to let his s / o deal with that alone, he just had to communicate with you about it

- after talking about it countless times during many long sleepless nights

- and looking up many many many resources about it online and in books

- he finally thought he had a good grasp on how to take care of you during those times

- of course, no matter how much reading and mental preparation he has, it can only help a little bit when the actual time comes

- and he certainly wasn't expecting it to happen during one of his business meetings

- being the s / o of the heir of the business,  you felt like you had to understand how these business meetings work, so you arranged for yourself to be in the meeting as a bystander

- at first when you originally came to him with the idea, he was worried about you

- there was always a lot of talking, sometimes it can get stressful even for him who was born into this life

- what he was really concerned about was the arguments

- his company did not settle things in a very mild-tempered or understanding way

- there would be yelling, cursing, throwing people under the bus, and everything in between

- before the meeting, he made it explicitly clear to his staff not to include you in the meeting in any way and that you were there just to witness

- he also let you know of this rule, so that you wouldn't feel left out when no one talked to you about the issues

- you were fine with this rule set in place because you knew it was to protect you, although you had no idea how ruthless people in suits could really be when talking with one another

- as the time came, he actually admitted to you that he thought it was incredibly brave and witty of you to join in the meeting so you would know how to help run the business with him

- and that gave you this huge boost of confidence !! hell yeah you were being intelligent and brave facing those men and women in expensive suits !! you go s / o ! :D

- unfortunately, this was one of the worst handled meetings he had seen in all his years of dealing with the corp

- and you ? you were appalled at how badly they dealt with the situation

- people were slamming their hands down on the large table, making a sound akin to a gunshot ring through the room

- there were people cursing some words that you'd never even heard before at others

- and byakuya was trying to calm them down, but there wasn't much use

- once a forest fire has been started, it's hard to calm it down

- there came to a point where the meeting had lasted almost two hours and still hadn't calmed down, and it was taking a serious toll on you

- before you knew it, there were tears streaming down your face and you had to discreetly use your sleeve to wipe them away, trying not to be noticed by anyone, especially your boyfriend

- but even as nothing got settled, the debate never stopped, and you quickly got up, excused yourself amidst all the yelling, and rushed out of the room

- no one other than your boyfriend had noticed your disappearance, too busy arguing between themselves

- and he was livid, and when he screamed, everyone listened

- byakuya : " SETTLE YOUR SHIT LIKE ADULTS AND STOP RUNNING AROUND THE FUCKING TOPIC. WE'VE BEEN HERE NEARLY TWO HOURS AND NOTHING HAS BEEN SETTLED. IF I HEAR A VOICE EVEN SLIGHTLY ABOVE A WHISPER I WILL SEE TO IT THAT EACH OF YOU PERSONALLY STRUGGLE TO FEED YOUR FAMILIES THIS MONTH AND FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR AFTER THAT. "

- he composed himself quickly, tugging on the end of his blazer to straighten it out

- byakuya : " i have some business to attend to. when you all come to a conclusion, let me know. watch what you say right now or there will be permanent hell to pay. "

- he said his goodbyes and walked out of the room, chasing after you to the only place he thought you would go, his office

- and he was right

- there you were, sitting in his office chair, your knees pulled up to your chest and you were crying loud enough he could hear it the moment he walked into the room

- byakuya : " s / o, s / o "

- he repeated your name softly, making his way to you in a hurried manner but calm enough that he wouldn't make you worry even worse

- he crouched down by the chair, his hand resting on top of yours gently, his thumb rubbing soothing circles into your skin

- byakuya : " s / o, can you look up at me ? i just want you to name five objects for me, spell then and tell me what color they are. "

- he was bad at giving reassurance, but if he could talk you out of having a panic attack, he certainly would try

- even with not exactly being one to ramble on and on, he knew that you had once told him that listening to his voice helped you calm down, so he talked to you about whatever popped up into his mind

- which included, but isn't limited to, the best breed of dogs and cats, why the planets revolve around the sun, what makes money valuable

- just things that he knew he could talk a bit about without getting too far into detail

- eventually as you calmed down, you glanced up at him with red and puffy eyes, to see that his eyes were trained on you

- not in the way that he studied other people

- but more of a " you're the only thing in my existence right now and i promise i'll spend however long it takes trying to make you feel better " kind of look, although it was hard to put it in words at the time

- byakuya was not the kind of guy to show affections or say unnecessary things, but for you, he was trying to show you his innermost feelings

- and honestly with him just around, you felt a little better

- s / o : " byakuya, can we go home,, ? "

- byakuya : " of course we can. let's go. "

- while he was standing there, he pushed a few buttons on the intercom, his voice overhead those who were trying to talk the situation out much more rationally than before

- byakuya : " i'm leaving. i want you each to file a report of what would be the solution, and i want it on my desk by the morning. thank you and have a good night. "

- he didn't really care about the report, but hopefully this taught his staff to be better mannered, whether he was accompanied with you or not.

[smilepal]

Basics: 1, 2, 7

Personality: 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16

Combat: 2, 5, 6, 7

Appearance: 4, 8, 10

Background: 5, 8, 11, 15

Sorry for all the questions!

Basics: 

1.) Full Name: 

Hiro Oda.

2.) Birthday: 

He doesn’t know but he ended up picking Oct. 31st. Misty approved because he definitely gave off Scorpio vibes. 

7.) Affiliations: 

Hiro used to be an affliate of the Tyger Claws but has since cut ties with them. There are a couple of contacts he’s on decent terms with but he’d prefer not to utilize them if possible, and would rather avoid the risk. Unfortunately he still shows up as a Tyger Claw on police scanners, with the addition of a large bounty. He doesn’t have any particular fixers he’s tied to, although he’d prefer not to work for Wakako. That doesn’t stop her from sending him on messy jobs whenever she feels like it, and he knows better than to refuse them. 

Personality:

7.) Colors you associate with them:

Black, blue, and vivid reds

9.) Theme Song:

Pre-leaving TC, Fool by Nostalghia would definitely fit. Post-TC Nightmare by NYXX and Jericho by Celldweller

10.) Five Negative Traits: 

Hiro can be reckless/impulsive and has a hard time not raising to someone’s bait. He’s the type that needs to be towed out of bar fights and hates not having the last word. He’s pretty cagey with his feelings and has a hard time trusting people/letting them get to know him, so he doesn’t make allies quickly. Trying to get him to talk about his emotions is like pulling teeth, and he’s generally a bit prickly to be around. He’s softer once he warms up but this takes a while. His partners have gotten used to it but he's incredibly bratty sometimes.

11.) What heavenly virtue would you assign them? 

Charity--even though he doesn’t have much, he’s generous with his time and what he’s able to spare.

12.) What deadly sin would you assign them?

Lust, although he’d hardly consider it a sin. He figures he could be doing much worse anyway 

16.) Do they care about their appearance? Do they like it? 

Hiro is quite vain about his appearance so he takes pretty good care of himself. He's definitely the type to spend a long time showering/styling his hair/picking out clothing and figures hey what the hell, if you've got it, flaunt it. (He's also definitely into the attention). For all that can be said about him, he’s certainly not lacking in confidence.

Combat:

2.) Combat Style (stealth/melee/brute force/ect)

Hiro prefers to focus on melee combat. He has gorilla arm mods and subdermal plating so he’s sturdier than he looks. He also has mods that boost his reflexes so he’s a combination of fast and hits like a truck. His style of fighting is to just sort of dive into the middle of it. He has a berserk cyberdeck, so his usual strategy is to just go in swinging/try to grapple opponents. Before he got his mods he preferred bats/clubs, as his aim with a gun is not great. 

5.) Biggest weakness in combat: 

One of his biggest weaknesses is netrunners. He has a lot of cybernetics and is focused on close range combat, so a good one can be a huge hassle. He’s also gotten into bad situations involving snipers, if he can see someone, they’re fucked but hidden opponents are a bit of a nightmare for him. His cyberdeck doesn’t allow him to nethack so he often has to rely on his allies to disable cameras or netrun. 

6.) Avoid combat or shoot first?

With civilians involved, he’d much rather avoid combat. He understands that when gangs are involved though, this isn’t always the best option. Corps he’d rather just shoot first, especially if they think they can buy/bribe him. He’d take extra offense to that. 

7.) Threaten or Charm?

It depends on the situation. Charm would usually be his first attempt, followed by threats if the situation called for it. He’s definitely used the strategy “walk in and act like you belong there” to surprising amounts of success before, and there have been situations that he’s gotten though on sheer bullshit/good luck. Any threats to his allies though usually would garner a less subtle, more violent reaction. He’s more protective of them than he is of himself. 

Appearance: 

4.) Body Type:

He’s leanly muscled with a lot of definition. He spends a lot of time training/sparring when he’s not doing working so he maintains it fairly well. 

8.) Scars:

Surprisingly few. There are some his tattoos cover up, and a small one through his eyebrow but very few visible ones. He doesn’t have cyberscars from facial cyberware, and would prefer to keep it that way. He’s a little paranoid about anything happening to his face. 

10.) Strategy or Improvise: 

He’d much rather just improvise, and lacks the patience for any significant planning. Why wait around for someone to nethack a door open when you could just pry it off it’s hinges? 

Background:

5.) Who raised them?

He has a brother (Avi) who’s about five years older than he is, and until he was six that was his primary caretaker. His parents weren’t really in the picture, and did little in the way of raising him. The two of them got separated after their parents died--both had been runners for the Tyger Claws and were caught dipping into the drugs they were supposed to be smuggling. The two boys were separated after TC caught wind of this. Avi ended up running and getting away but Hiro didn’t. 

8.) Were they well-off, poor or somewhere in-between growing up?

He and his brother were really poor growing up. They grew up in shacks near the water in Kabuki and would gather stuff they found in the water to sell or fix. Both of them were sick a lot growing up, and neither ever felt the desire to return to their childhood home. 

11.) Who is the most important person from their childhood?

Viktor was probably one of the first positive influences in their life. Hiro met him because he was looking for a trustworthy ripperdoc. Vik refused to charge him full price for the work he needed done, and the two of them ended up striking up a friendship. Hiro really admires Vik, and the two of them are on good terms. Hiro will occasionally keep an eye on the clinic for him so he can get supplies/take a bit of a break.

15.) Have they kept any meaningful mementos from their past?

He doesn’t have many physical possessions from his past. Aside from his bike, he still kept his old mask. He can’t bring himself to get rid of it, and can’t deny it’s come in useful on more than one occasion. 

Always happy to ramble about my OCs and do some writing! Thanks so much for asking ☺️

[queenangst]

Glitch Techs: A Theory about Miko, the Kubotas, and Hinobi

Includes Glitch Techs Season 2 spoilers.

With Glitch Techs season 2 comes more questions and more information. And I have thoughts. Parts of this theory may not be “new,” and have been discussed elsewhere/builds on other ideas pointed out in the fandom before. 

Thank you to @happi-tree for feeding this theory and adding to it. And here’s some great theory by @frogsfangs that covers some points about Hinobi. 

So Glitch Miko is not a new concept to the fandom at all since season 1, though HinobiTech (the Glitch Techs Twitter) has debunked the theory of Miko as a Glitch. According to HinobiTech, “she's only a 16-year-old gamer!” 

We know Miko’s not a Glitch... but that doesn’t mean she can’t be Glitch-like or part-Glitch, a hybrid experiment by Hinobi from their so-called development labs. 

Theory continues under the cut, due to the length.

In seasons 1 and 2 (or seasons 1a/1b, as we can technically consider these two as one running storyline/arc), the most obvious piece of evidence is that Miko cannot be reset with the mind-wipe. This is an anomaly; as Mitch says, everyone can be reset. Why not Miko? This is pointed out multiple times in the show. Another interesting narrative choice is that when involved with the Glitch Techs, in Collection Quest and Karate Trainer, neither of Miko’s sisters were reset. The implication of this is that the question whether or not they can be reset is important to the narrative, and can impact the story later on. 

Here’s where the Kubotas come in. They’re a busy, and incredibly talented family. Nica is tech-savvy. She’s the older sister who taught Miko to game, and is proficient in mobile games, or apps. Lexi, who eavesdrops on Miko and their parents in Age of Hinobi, is proficient in karate, tracking, and seems to be highly athletic. Miko dances well, and as pointed out by Mitch in Find the Glitch, was “one of the only players to log in remotely” at the Hinobi tournament, her teamwork with Five caused “a glitch that nearly took down the entire store,” isn’t able to be reset, “incited the release of a viral glitch [Chomp Kitty],” went on to “destroy the training sim, and... released a dangerous Glitch into HQ.” Not exactly a great track record. And notably, her reflexes are “inhuman.” Nobody could be that good... except for Miko. All of the Kubota sisters (with little information on the brothers) are knowledge or proficient in skills that are what Hinobi wants from a perfect Glitch Tech: athletic, fighting, quick-thinking gamers, who are as if not better than the average. And these are the skills that will hopefully lead Hinobi to Bolypius. 

What about, and why not Nica? Nica is one of the first experiments, but maybe she’s a failed one in the eyes of Hinobi. She’s skilled and knowledgable, yes, but maybe doesn’t display the qualities or desires that Miko does. Hinobi may monitor the experiments as young children/teens, and deemed Nica to be less useful, whereas Miko has more potential. Lexi, at eleven, isn’t quite old enough.

Now for the Kubota parents. Here’s a thought—Mayumi and Hugh Kubota are former Glitch Techs, or even higher-ups at Hinobi, who consented for their children to be Glitch experiments. Mayumi seems quite excited for Miko to get a job at Hinobi, and her parents support that. When we meet them, we also see both parents wearing wrist/smartwatches. While these are shown to help them keep track of time, these could also be a subtle connection to Hinobi; a way for Hinobi to keep track of the Kubotas, or communicate with them. And it’s possible for Hinobi to record any information the Kubotas have forgotten, in case of a mind-wipe like in the first episode, which I’ll talk about later; or the Kubotas themselves may have also consented to having their minds wiped.

But let’s talk about Phil, Inspector Seven, the end of Season 2, and do a little bit of math. Based on what we know from BITT Prime, Phil has been around managing Bailley Glitch Techs for at least 20 years, though he has likely been a Glitch Tech for longer. His younger self at the end of the episode says that Phil has probably has his mind wiped again, so this has happened multiple times, enough that Phil eventually figures out to hide a file and all the information “recovered from Hinobi’s development labs” in BITT, where most won’t find it. 

Jump to Inspector Seven. This is all connected, I promise. Inspector Seven knows about Miko. She also occasionally comes by with her job as an inspector, but that might not be the only purpose. She needs to make sure Miko is progressing as desired, and to keep Phil from being suspicious; to the point whenever she comes for an “inspection,” she’s really mind-wiping Phil for getting too close to the truth about the development labs. Note that in Season 1, the first episode is when Miko is hired and Phil meets (and mind-wipes) Mayumi and Hugh. Right after that, in the second episode, is when Inspector Seven visits Bailley HQ, when she can mind-wipe Phil in case his interaction with the Kubotas causes any trouble. Whenever Phil gets close, he gets mind-wiped. The timeline also appears to line up. Nica is seventeen and Miko is sixteen, which is around the right time for Phil to discover the plans/their existence around twenty or so years ago. (This is, of course, approximate because twenty years refers to when Phil last deleted a file, and so may account for any confusions in the timeline.) 

Hinobi seems to keep track of high-profile and skilled gamers as potential recruits, which is why they host the SmashBall tournament—perhaps to test their skills. Inspector Seven is implied to know Miko, and refers to Miko specifically as “the subject,” whereas High Five is “the subject’s friend.” 

If Miko is a successful Hinobi experiment, a hybrid, human Glitch, she needs training before she can be used. This comes from her own parents and their family, but also from being a Glitch Tech—where Hinobi can keep a close eye on her progress. They need these experiments, because regular Glitch Techs haven’t been working the way Hinobi wants. And they need Miko, too; if she can’t be reset as a side effect/part of the experiment, then Hinobi needs to make sure Miko is working for them under control and not against. 

Also... if Miko is part-Glitch, maybe Ridley can mod her, too, if needed.

There’s a couple questions that still need answers, though. What or who is Bolypius? What about Miko’s brothers? What is on Phil’s files? And hey, what the fuck does Hinobi want? 

(Anyway, real or not, this is some great fic material. And I sure want to write it.)

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

THE SEEIN’ DEAD MOD IS A BAND-AID FIX

gearbox locked zane’s lazy fix behind a paywall

tl;dr: for the love of god, the seein’ dead class mod should be what the seein’ red capstone is and vice versa. also. MORE SYNERGY. also i redesigned all of Zane’s trees and augments for more synergy you’re welcome.

is 1am and i don’t want tomorrow and im angry and thinking about borderlands so this seems like the perfect time to immerse myself in remaking Zane’s skill trees (for the 5th time). mainly because some of zane’s skills are still irking me and i’ve written extensive essays for the bl3 subreddit about the seein’ dead class mod and just playing around with zane’s skills in general, but i don’t think i’ve ever posted here before about it. so here we are. i notice i usually save lore/theories/characterizations for this blog and meta/balancing/gear talk for reddit. not sure why that’s a split for me. 

now i’ve remade zane’s skills a number of times, but honestly this was all before the seein’ dead mod was released. then, instead of fixing his skill trees, i wrote a lot of essays about why that mod was a terrible bad decision on gearbox’s part (you can read one of the shorter arguments in a comment from 5 months ago here). I’m just gonna remake the skill trees now with all his current abilities in mind.this post really should be titled: ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THEIR BALANCING DECISIONS

so imma just talk for a bit about why i love/hate the seein’ dead class mod. 

Obviously it’s a god tier mod, and you see almost no zane builds without it, and no top tier, can solo m10 true takedown builds without it (unless ur like, the 1% of masochistic players, in which case i salute you). and while that obviously means its a good mod, it also shows the problems with all his other class mods and his skill trees in general.

They all kinda suck. and that wouldn’t be a problem, bc, hey, the seein’ dead mod is ez to get, just pop on over to the casino and kill a few baddies and they’ll  drop like candy. Which is really awesome!

slight problem.

the dlc is locked behind a PAYWALL

now this is a problem because if zane was a top tier character BEFORE the dlc, and everything was hunky dory and people weren’t on their knees begging for gearbox to fix Zane, then him getting a new badass class mod wouldn’t be such a big deal. but the problem was this was gearbox’s solution to giving Zane a buff.

they literally locked a buff for a character behind a pay wall.

I recommend Zane is every single person I try to convince to play bl3, but i always have to add this like, commercial-esque asterisk. you know, terms and conditions or, side effects or whatever. *you probably want to get the seein’ dead mod if you’re looking at end-game play because unless you wanna struggle that’s his only viable play style.

what if they don’t want to buy the dlc?! for real...

There’s also the point that this class mod makes his (arguably) BEST capstone obsolete. so we have distributed denial which literally no one uses because its broken, double barrel which is always traded for seein’ red or more points in other skills, and seein’ red, WHICH WAS MADE USELESS BY THIS CLASS MOD

gsfdhjikdhgdaskjfhgaskdfjh

okay and it wouldn’t even be so bad

IF THEY DIDN’T CHANGE HIS ENTIRE SKILL SET BEFORE RELEASE

like they lowered ALL his kill skills, then they turned Seein’ Red into his capstone instead of Death Follows Close, meaning they nerfed Death Follows Close so it could fit as just a game changer. my poor boy was g u t t e d.

so, imagine this, everyone is reaching the end-game content of bl3. it’s a month or 2 weeks or whatever after the game dropped and people are finally hitting level 50. and moze/fl4k/amara are all killin’ it, and the zane players have to work their ASSES off to do like... 50% of that damage output (now, they did also eventually nerf the crap outta moze and fl4k but the point stands). 

so instead of gearbox going: “oh... shit that pre-release nerf was an awful idea, revert the changes guys” they decided to keep him gutted and then they released what was, in my opinion, a kick in the nuts with the maliwan takedown (aka the antifreeze mod, alongside the spiritual driver) ahahahahahaha. what good times it was. (I say this sarcastically.) 

man i remember people were soooo livid with that class mod release. well, both of them. zane mains were pissed off (for good reason). “yes, let’s make the people who are begging for a straight damage increase jump through MORE hoops (LITERALLY) for a pitiful amount of damage. oh, also, let’s give their 28 skill point build to the strongest character in the game for free and also make it 10x better”. because it was 10x better than violent momentum (driver didn’t have a damage cap) until they fixed both the spiritual driver and the violent momentum skill. it was the worst of times.

i will note here they did, around this time, let zane have stackable kill skills, but it was only 2 stacks and also it was still *incredibly* difficult to achieve stacks because zane just. struggled to kill anything. I still remember when i grinded the shit outta an antifreeze class mod and it took me over 20 minutes to kill Wotan my first time solo on m4. Not the fight UP to wotan. literally. just killing wotan.

then the seein’ dead mod dropped and i had. a fuckin. 15 minute decrease to my time on killing wotan (5 minutes!!!!). now i am not perfect, and i 100% believe i could’ve lowered the time even more. but that... that shows a VERY CLEAR problem.

they never actually fixed zane, they gave him a class mod that’s stupid OP just to make sure he could hang on next to the other Vault Hunters. it’s just a bandaid fix. you remove the class mod, and he’s back to pre-jackpot power levels (which will NOT hold up at m10, let me tell you). 

all his pre-jackpot problems are still here, and that’s why people are not using any other class mod of his. I bet we could have some really fun builds with the conductor mod! but nobody will ever use it because it’s just... not even close to the seein’ dead mod.

So what does the seein’ dead mod do that makes Zane so good?

IT BRINGS HIM BACK TO PRE-RELEASE VALUES

this mod, plus Death Follows Close, brings Zane back to pre-release zane. and i don’t understand how gearbox isn’t putting two and two together and going “Oh.”

it also is a BETTER VERSION of Seein’ Red!!! something players could have had at, like, level 15, but instead had to wait until they hit a capstone! the capstone is completely obsolete at this point. There is nothing seein’ red can give you that seein’ dead doesn’t do but better. Getting that capstone is a w a s t e of skill points.

AND they locked this fix behind a pay wall!!! i cannot say that enough. you don’t wanna get the handsome jackpot dlc?? guess u don’t wanna play zane at endgame then. too bad, so sad.

have i stated that enough? because it still blows my fuckin mind. THEY LOCKED A CHARACTER FIX BEHIND A PAYWALL

djhdgakjhakjdah. imagine playing without any prior knowledge and being like, aw man i love this zane character. can’t wait to get to max mayhem end game like all my favorite youtubers and friends!! then finding out you gotta drop 15 bucks or whatever it is just to actually be able to play at max mayhem level. that is not a skill difference, that is A BALANCING PROBLEM MY DUDES. like. my favorite zer0 build was still viable without the story DLCs. obviously grog > rubi, pimp > lyuda, rapier > law but, it was still fuckin viable.

guh. gufhgufhsdgkfjsdh. it bothers me.

ok so there’s a lot i just went over: my main issue? is that by making Seein’ Red a capstone, they did nothing to make it an actual legit capstone. They definitely nerfed Death Followed Close to make it a gamechanger, but they never gave Seein’ Red a buff to move it from a gamechanger to a capstone. It was the same exact skill. Seein’ Dead is what Seein’ Red SHOULD be and that’s what angers the crap outta me. they locked this obvious fix behind a pay wall (AND a gear slot!!!!!) n ur probably thinking ‘but cruddy this WAS really nice of them to try and fix zane... they could’ve just let him be suuc’ and like, yeah, they could’ve, and it is good they’re TRYING, but also, they’re leaving the people who DON’T buy the DLC high and dry.

keep in mind i DO own the dlc. have the season pass and everything. IM STILL MAD!!!

Zane should be strong no matter what class mod the players want to use. Same with Amara, same with Moze, same with Fl4k. FFS, it is not that hard. CHANGE THEIR SKILLS!!!!!

so im gonna be taking the time to go over all of zane’s skills and shit just to put him more on par with the others (WITHOUT THE SEEIN’ DEAD MOD)

imagine the seein’ dead mod doesn’t exist for this. we’re gonna make a balanced character since apparently THAT’S TOO HARD FOR A TRIPLE-A BALANCING TEAM

first things first, the tree with the most fuckin problems: 

Under Cover

oh god this tree is a fucking train wreck what the hell were they thinking. good god. my eyes. they’re burning.

not actually, but it still kinda sucks.

Action Skill: Barrier is fine. I would not add the ‘picking it up decreases benefits’ when Zane’s whole schtick is running around fast. You get the full bonus no matter what form it’s in. also, you can hold down the action skill activation button to deploy the barrier directly on yourself.

Tier 1: Hearty Stock is a trap. never get this. so dumb. no synergy with his other skills. Adrenaline is okay, but not really great during end game. Ready For Action is similarly okay. Just a very MEH start to this tree. 

Adrenaline: Zane gains increased Action Skill Cooldown Rate. 10% per level, up to 50%. this shouldn’t be tied to his shields being full because if your barrier is down (cooling DOWN)... your shield is taking damage. c’mon now. THINK GEARBOX T H I N K

Hearty Stock: (maxed) Zane and his clone gain 5% magazine regeneration while an action skill is active. This skill stacks. In it’s original state, this skill is such a trap skill. for real.

Ready For Action: i mean, it’s fine. We’ll keep it. +30% shield recharge rate and -29% (why????) recharge delay

Tier 2: ech. Stiff Upper Lip is not that good. Brain freeze is what u really want. Rise to the Occasion is also okay.

Brain Freeze: keep the same.

Stiff Upper Lip: when Zane is damaged with a hit that would break his shield, he gains (max) +20% bonus gun damage on his next shot through the barrier.

Rise to the Occasion: Zane and his clone gain health regeneration. +5% max health/s. Not determined by shield availability.

Tier 3: `screams in confident competence` oh lawd. this skill is good. the accuracy thing is kinda laughable. i tell you, i always thought that zane was originally meant to be the sniper with the Under Cover tree but they decided to swap Zane and Fl4k’s skills. which is why Zane has soooo many accuracy buffs.

Confident Competence: fine the way it is. I would also add, since this IS a game changer, that the Barrier’s damage amp is now 40%.

Tier 4: ew. tier 4. Really Expensive Jacket is literally the only skill you might want to get and EVEN THEN. ugh. Best Served Cold is so pointless. and so is Futility Belt. YOU TAKE MORE DAMAGE WITH IT

Really Expensive Jacket: Elemental Status Effects have reduced duration (-50%). Additionally, Zane is not slowed by Cryo anymore.

Best Served Cold: Remove the cooldown. Buff up the damage at least 200%. Make it an AOE Brain Freeze. That is, the cryo novas stack and if overkill damage is high enough, enemies hit with the novas freeze. Kinda like a discount Frozen Heart.

Futility Belt: HA. Ahahahahaha. Ha. Zane gains resistance to non-elemental and cryo damage (+15%). Futhermore, after killing an enemy, Zane’s barrier gains additional cryo damage (+20%) for 8s.

Tier 5: is oki. My only real complaint is with Nerves of Steel. Like. Seriously.

Refreshment: god tier skill actually. Keep the same.

Best Served Cold: also keep the same. The only change I will make is this: resetting your action skills’ cooldowns counts as action skill start and end.

Nerves of Steel: The longer Zane’s barrier is active, the more stacks of Nerves of Steel he gains (a maximum of 15). For each stack, Zane gains 2% shock damage, 2% cryo efficiency, and 1% damage to frozen enemies. (why shock damage? cryo doesn’t do well against shields.)

Tier 6: *cries in the worst capstone in the entire series* WHO DID THIS. WHY. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU???

Distributed Denial: no. just. no. scrap this whole damn thing. IT DOESN’T EVEN WORK!!!! either fix it COMPLETELY or do something else. My recommendation? Whenever Zane throws down his barrier, his shield instantly begins recharging. If Zane’s shield is already full or recharging, enemies with no shields (or freeze immunity) that touch Zane’s Barrier for the next 10s are instantly frozen.

Augments: why the hell do i gotta place my barrier down when my entire fuckin’ character is about RUNNING. ALSO JUST AS A BLANKET STATEMENT: ALL THESE AUGMENTS WORK 100% EVEN IF HIS BARRIER IS PICKED UP. SO DUMB. a fully pointless restriction.

that last sentence immediately fixes Charged Relay and Nanites or Some Shite.

Redistribution: If his shields are full, Zane can sacrifice 50% of his shields to have his next shot deal 100% bonus cryo damage by holding F.

All-Rounder: Fine as is. Only thing I would add: whenever Zane melees an enemy, his shields are drained by 50% and his sliding augment is added to the melee attack.

Deterrence Field: Fine as is. But! I would add: whenever Zane sprints into an enemy, his shields are drained by 50% and slam augment is activated.

THAT WAY we can have both slam/sliding relics actually DO SOMETHING. because my god they’re so useless rn.

alright, moving on.

Hitman

Tier 1: is okay. nobody ever takes cold bore. ever.

Violent Speed: fine as is, but we’re taking it back to pre-release values. Max: 30%. can stack 2x.

Cold Bore: Zane gains (max) 20% bonus cryo damage to all shots fired while moving.

Violent Momentum: fine as is, but taking it back to pre-release values. 30% gun damage at default walk speed. Additionally, Zane can now shoot while sprinting.

Tier 2: my boy zoomer needs more fun.

Cool Hand: fine as it is. I would buff his base reload speed up to 20% and kill skill reload to 20% as well. 17 and 13 are such weird numbers.

Drone Delivery: fine as it is. Additionally, Zoomer’s base shots now take on the element of Zane’s grenade mod.

Salvation: fine as it is. I won’t mess with this bc life steal is messy business (coughs in grog)

Tier 3: hhhynf.fdsg. 

Death Follows Close: Kill Skill Bonus: +30%. Kill Skill Time: +7s. Additionally, enemies targeted by Zoomer take 5% more damage from Zane.

Tier 4: these two skills are actually p dope by themselves. it can stay as it is. I would MAYBE increase the violent violence max buff up to 20% but that’s just me.

Tier 5: ahahahaha. this skill. just remember, we’re pretending Seein’ Dead doesn’t exist, so imagine how this skill looks next to calm cool n collected. so pointless.

Good Misfortune: Killing an enemy with a critical hit adds (max) 10% efficiency to Zane’s kill skills for 8s. This does not stack.

Tier 6: WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU RELEVANT AGAIN BOO HANG IN THERE

Seein’ Red: Zane has a (4%) chance to activate his kill skills upon dealing gun damage to an enemy. Additionally, enemies targeted by Zoomer now take 15% more damage from Zane.

so why didn’t we make good misfortune the infinite action skill build?? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT CCnC IS SUPPOSED TO DO!!! why have 2 skills that do the exact same thing AT THE EXACT SAME TIER except ONE IS OBJECTIVELY WORSE!!!!!

what happens to the Seein’ Dead class mod if we’re giving its perk to this capstone? I’m so glad you asked. “Zane activates his kill skills when activating his action skills. Additionally, the kill skills activated this way have 15% more efficiency”. look how much better balanced that is!!!! that’s a class mod!!!!!!!!

Augments: these aren’t THAT bad, but they could be a lot better.

Winter’s Drone: Zoomer gains 20% bonus cryo damage to all shots.

Bad Dose: pump these numbers up. Fire Rate: +7% per affected enemy. Movement Speed: +10% per enemy. everything else is fine.

Boomsday: just make this more beefy. fr. It’d be a good choice if it were stronger.

Static Field: also fine. I would again give it better damage output, but that’s just me.

Almighty Ordnance: remove the build up honestly. Like i get the vibe and it’s really cool, but in combat it just DOESN’T WORK. maybe if Zoomer is targeting an enemy, he will unleash the missiles if they are above 50% health after 30s or something. I honestly think these should have a debuffing factor instead of a damage factor (you know, to not get in the way of boomsday). maybe something around 15%? the 1x per action skill activation thing would be easily subverted with CCnC with the changes we suggested, so it could work. 

Doubled Agent

ahhh, Blane. Blue Zane. Love ya, buddy. One change: he prioritizes pinged targets. That way you can kinda get him to fight specific people. Also, lower the teleportation timer. pls.

Tier 1: actually p good. could be better, but its not bad.

Synchronicity: Zane gains 20% bonus damage per active action skill. While Zane has an action skill active, he gains a stack of Synchronicity. Max Stacks: 10. For each stack of Synchronicity, Zane gains 5% Action Skill Cooldown Rate and 2% Action Skill Damage.

Praemunitus: Zane and his digiclone gain (max) 30% magazine size.

Borrowed Time: For each action skill active, Zane gains 30% action skill duration. The longer Zane’s action skills are active, he and Blane gain a higher Fire Rate and faster Reload Speed, up to 20%. (the idea is you choose between this or synchronicity bc... either permanent action skills build or fast paced action skills build)

Tier 2: Donnybrook is fun. Fractal Frags is fun. Duct tape mod is a GODDAMN DISAPPOINTMENT

Donnybrook: fine as it is. I might buff the max numbers up to 20% gun damage and 3% health regen. But that’s really it.

Fractal Frags: Blane will periodically toss a grenade from Zane’s stockpile at his targeted enemy (cooldown: 20s). Kill Skill: Blane has a 45% chance to throw a free grenade.

Duct Tape Mod: this skill... why... No cooldown. NONE. Zane has a 1% chance to also fire a grenade from his gun. Kill Skill: This is increased to 15% for 8s (stays at 1% for the whole time, but the kill skill will increase by 3% for each tier)

Tier 3: Actually Quick Breather is one of my favorite skills. this can stay.

Quick Breather: Same as is. Additionally, Zane and his clone gain 25% Gun Damage after swapping places for a short time (8s).  I really wanna promote swapping places. It’s really underutilized. they’ve ADDED stuff to this skill already!!! even tho it didn’t work until the next patch. BUT THEY SHOW ITS POSSIBLE TO ADD TO SKILLS!!!

Tier 4: actually a really good tier. a few minor changes. 

Pocket Full of Grenades: Kill Skill: Zane gains (max) 15% grenade regeneration for 8s. If Zane’s grenades are full, any excess grenades are shot from his gun with 25% bonus damage.

Old-U: If Zane falls into FFYL while his digiclone is active, he can press the action skill activation key to destroy his clone and gain a second wind. When he does this, he takes the place of his clone. His clone will also drop a grenade when it is destroyed.

Supersonic Man: Zane gains increased movement speed for each active action skill: (max) 15% each. Additionally, teleportation is considered to be Zane’s maximum speed for its duration and 5s after. 

Tier 5: oh god oh fuck oh god.

Like a Ghost: Oh god why. Zane and his digiclone gain a (max) 15% chance to ignore all damage while teleporting and for 7s after.

Boom. Enhance: actually a pretty swell skill. I would probably add Health Regen +3% per grenade tho. Blane needs help a lot.

Trick of the Light: bring back the shock damage. Zane deals 40% bonus shock damage for 7s after swapping places with his clone.

Tier 6: oh ngl I actually love this capstone lol

Double Barrel: Zane’s digiclone gains a copy of Zane’s current gun when it is deployed (and all the anointments work and he actually fires it like a reasonable person). Zane’s clone now deals damage equal to Zane’s base weapon damage. Upon swapping places, both Zane and his digiclone deal 50% bonus damage for 7s.

Augments: 

Binary System: is okay. Kinda uhhh underwhelming tho. Buff up the damage and also maybe reduce teleportation time.

Schadenfreude: I like this one a lot. Zane’s shield is restored by 100% of the damage his digiclone takes and vice versa.

Dopplebanger: lower the waiting time. I get that u don’t wanna override the teleportation, but it’s really annoying. Buff damage and don’t make it dependent on action skill duration. If this explosion kills an enemy, the clone is reactivated with 50% action skill duration.

Which One’s Real?: I’ve never actually felt this work. Maybe for like 2 seconds? Make it work more like Zer0′s hologram or Timmy’s Jack clones or smth. Maybe give an activation cue? im v lost with this one. Enemies targeting Zane take 30% more damage from the digiclone.

Digital Distribution: 75% of the health damage Zane takes is distributed to his clone instead. The digiclone gains 5% Health Regeneration/s and sends out 3 [level specific damage] shock spikes to enemies that attack it. 

literally all Zane needs is SYNERGY. if they can change a few skills, pump up a few numbers, and ffs fix the seein’ red/dead capstone/mod, they’d be in FUCKIN BUSINESS

but no instead

THEY LOCKED THE BUFF BEHIND A PAYWALL.

WHYYYYYY

[cs-discourse]

Reccomendations (V long sorry 😅)

I offer you all some shows to watch instead of hAzBiN hOtEL:                         

Epithet Erased (On YT I think. - Animation style is a little hard to get used to, but I love the chars and story line. Wholesome fun.)

Brooklyn 99 ( Netflix - please remember that real cops are not like this, it is a fictitious portrayal - the actors themselves donated 100,000 $ to support protesters against cops. Enjoy it but watch it as the fiction it is. Be aware that it’s copaganda.)

She-ra ( Netflix- we stan that lgbtq representation)

Avatar the Last Airbender (Netflix - Most of you have prbly already seen it but uh. If you haven’t, it’s pretty good. Definitely a lighthearted semi childish show.)

Daria (Crave - We stan unique poc representation. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59kp45/daria-jodie-landon-suburban-black-girl) 

Adventure Time (Dailymotion -free- or Google Play - Just google best episodes and watch those ones. The ones with Marceline + PB are my personal faves.) 

Magic For Humans (Netflix - Basically an interesting magic show. Fun activity: when I watch this w/ other ppl we try to figure out how he did the tricks.) 

The Fresh Prince (Netflix - A classic. Still know the theme song by heart.) 

Hilda or Kipo and the Wonderbeasts (Netflix - these two animated shows are new unique takes on fantasy adventures. ) 

IZombie ( Netflix - Basically a zombie detective, but better. Think Veronica Mars. -also a good detective show y'all should watch. *trigger warning: it’s a zombie murder show so it has some semi-realistic depictions of gore/brains.) 

Disenchantment ( Netflix -The closest thing to Hazbin on this list. An animated show with dark humour without being racist or homophobic. *some animated gore that some people might find triggering. It’s been a while since I watched so idk exactly what.) 

Final Space ( Netflix -like disenchantment, an animated show with an intended audience older than your average animation show. *again, animated gore.) 

Mods, if any of these shows are homophobic/racist/otherwise problematic -(ignoring B99 which is obvious copganda. Again: It’s fiction. Do not -I repeat, DO NOT- look at it as a real representation of cops. It’s not.)- please say so. We not here tryna recommend problematic shows. Or, if you have any other reccomendations?

ps: I’m Canadian, so some of these shows may not be on american Netflix, or some of the ones that aren’t may be on it. Idk. Stay safe y'all. Oof way too long submission finally over. 

-

if you like anime, here are things i watch:

blue exorcist - DEMONSSS (hulu and netflix im p sure)

scissor seven - its actually chinese animated, but its very well made and the production value goes up as the show goes on. i honestly rlly like the cliche anime backstory for the main char bc its also funny as hell (netflix)

saiki k - its like if one punch man was a teen who was also incredibly sarcastic. if you have adhd this shows p good for you too, it goes really fucking fast and you cant look away or youll miss something. its hilarious, go watch. (netflix)

also, some youtubers if youre feelin like that:

dream - minecraft youtuber, child friendly (not in the annoying way. just no cussing)!! hes like 5000 iq and holy shit his minecraft manhunts are insane. holds the mc speedrun world record POG. good coder, my fav youtuber right now.

hellfreezer - reading reddit stories youtuber. his voice is very nice, and videos are faily long. i use him as background noise when doing work.

TRO (the right opinion) - long commentary/rant videos on controversial topics/youtubers, like onision and yandere dev. sexy british voice ;)

mossbag - hollow knight lore and theories. i love hollow knight sm

penguinz0 - streams, commentaries, very short videos. one of the funniest men alive. absoultely incredicble. hes very quick witted and his insults make me scream laugh sometimes

joana ceddia - random life videos. full of personality! i love her honestly shes really chill but also gives off the energy of a thousand suns

pointcrow - gaming youtuber. makes a lot of insane challenge botw videos/zelda vids in general. he streams and then makes the videos.

jarvis johnson - makes videos like drew gooden/danny gonzalas do, but he is also a poc. his bids are entertaining and interesting!! i recommend greatly if you like shorter commentary videos.

.phe

my current faves are:

dorohedoro - anime about humans and wizards coexisting during a war against each other. the wizards hate the humans and curse them to experiment with their magic. all-powerful demons control the magic world behind the scenes. very graphic in regards to gore, some nudity on occasion. anime not finished adapting from manga.

hunter x hunter - anime about hunters who do just that-- go out into the world and hunt for whatever it is they want. examples include justice for their clan killed by genocide, a new family because the old one is a toxic group of assassins who believe you can’t have friends, friends to fill in for an absentee father, and a phd. somewhat graphic in regards to gore, especially so later on in the series. anime not finished adapting from manga.

what we do in the shadows - tv mockumentary series about vampires living in staten island. very funny but also VERY NSFW... lots of sexual references/content, gore and blood.

snowpiercer - tv fantasy series about the apocalypse in which the government fucked up and sent the world into a total deep freeze. 1001 train cars are all the life that remains on earth. VERY NSFW... sexual references/content, gore and blood. there’s also a movie adapted from the comic series by the iconic and incomparable bong joon ho on netflix which is good.

// Mod Peach

[originalbnhascenarios]

Hiya can I request hc, for a female reader who falls in love with her best friend mina, asui and jiro (separated) you don't have to do this but thank you very much if you do ❤🤗😁

Damn it was pretty fun to do! Too bad I didn't had much ideas

Fem! reader who falls in love with her best friend Mina Tsuyu and Jiro

Mina Ashido

You and Mina always spend time together. Whatever one of you do you constantly think of the other one.

It honestly took you a long time until you thought of her as something more than just a friend.

It happened when you were heading back home from her place. You had too much fun actually and didn't notice the time.

She insisted on walking you home so you agreed. As you walked you started to wonder how whould it feel like to hold her hand. The train of thought didn't stop there and you were pretty impressed that you were able to have a conversation with her while thinking how whould it be to date her.

And you actually said how you felt on accident because of it. You said something you were thinking and it was a random thought 'I wish I could date you' or something similar.

But Mina looked excited "That's great!" giggling she added "I also often thought about dating you so why don't we give it a shot?".

You were shocked but you agreed. The two of you held hands until you got home and she was just too excited to let you go at that point so you just let yourself have a sleepover with your now girlfriend!

Tsuyu Asui

You quickly noticed that you loved her. I mean how could you not like her? She was always honest and never afraid to speak her mind responsible caring and on top of that adorable!

And she noticed it also quite quickly wich was kind of embarrassing. I mean sure she was very observant (another thing to list why she is incredible) but it still made you think that you were this obvious.

As soon as she thought about possibility of you having a crush on her she asked "Y/N do you like me?" you were silent for a bit.

Yet you admitted it and Tsuyu was happy. Turns out that she liked you too and it was probably the first thing she was ever hiding from you.

Oh God were you cute when you admitted it she couldn't help it but give you a small kiss on the cheek.

Jiro Kyoka

You and Kyoko were always spending time together and she was just amazing. At first you didn't realize how you truly felt.

It took some time but you noticed how you actually felt about her. To be more exact it happened when she was showing her musical side to you.

Don't get me wrong she often did so becouse it seems that only around you she isn't anyhow insecure about her interests.

But the time when you realized 'oh God oh fuck I love her' was different.

The song she was playing was slow and it felt like she was playing some kind of love song there.

Her focused yet calm expression highlighted how beautiful she was. The music added romantic mood to it and oh God you couldn't think straight.

From that time the urge to tell her was huge but you didn't knew how to do it.

Jiro actually never noticed the fact that you loved her and your platonic relationship continued. Not gonna lie she often thought whether or not she loved you but she wasn't sure so she never said anything.

But one day you decided to get yourself together and finally tell her.

You bought flowers that reminded you of her so obviously they were beautiful. When you asked her to meet up she agreed so there was no further problems with it.

She was surprised by the flowers and didn't notice that it was for her until you gave her the bouquet.

Thanking for it she asked why you gave her those. You looked at her and said that you fell for her.

Jiro was stunned... But happy! She thought for a moment before saying "I like you too" while slightly blushing.

Her blush got more intense after you hugged her and asked if that made you a couple. As she hugged you back she answered with "Y-yeah".

~Mod Tsuyu

[apothecarywormcrud]

11 and 13 for Masato? 👀 i wanna say all of them for Masato but.

oh i am DOING all of them i wanna talk about masato

or. well. most of them. 

1. Does your insert have a name that’s different from yours? Does the name reflect their character in any way, or is it just because it sounds nice? How did you come up with it?

I’ve talked about this before, but Masato’s name is very specifically spelled 眞人, (the kanji for “real” and “human,” respectively.) I sorta knew from the start that I wanted to give them a name with 人 in it; something deliberately ironic, because Mayuri is a dick who loves a bad joke. 

(It’s a particularly cruel joke in the context of Masato’s original backstory, where they were meant to be an experiment in what happens when you let someone think they’re a real person and then strip that assumption away. But I wanted to give them sick powers, so that was shunted to the sidelines.) 

2. Does your insert have a very strong relationship with a f/o, maybe more than one? 

I talk about Szayel enough on here so I’m gonna talk about Nnoitra instead. In my version of canon, his mask is cracked open by Kenpachi, reducing him to a state similar to Nel’s. (That’s karmic retribution, bitch!) Suffice to say he’s pretty upset about this, and proceeds to skulk about Las Noches refusing to let anyone see him until Szayel gets back to fix things. 

Masato meets him by chance when their powers are still sealed up post-jailbreak (this one’s seal 2: electric boogaloo) and is all like, what’s with this sassy lost pre-teen? Eventually they become sparring partners, since while Nnoitra’s regaining his powers, Masato is the only person in Las Noches capable of fighting at such a low level; and once he’s got them back, they can go hog-wild without worrying about fucking him up too much. Their relationship doesn’t have the same...belligerent romantic tension that Masato and Szayel’s does, but Nnoitra is fond of Masato, even if he’s horrible at admitting it. They’re friends and they suck! 

More abt. Nnoitra actually bc I love this song: nerfing him puts him in a position where he’s forced to rely on other people, and despite feeling totally worthless and vulnerable and having to undergo the humiliation of being protected, there’s also the experience of being told, “So what if you don’t have any power? That doesn’t make me respect you any less.” So he has the opportunity to build his self-worth back up based on something less subjective, and now he can actually interact with other people on the same level, which is great news for Tesla, who gets to strengthen his spine and be truly up front about his feelings, because Nnoitra no longer has any power over him. 

I think, for relationships like these, finding a level playing field is super important! And I’ve always been fascinated by characters who develop in opposition to one another and eventually meet in the middle. Masato and Szayel are also that way, in that they round out some of his edges, and he sharpens some of theirs, and the actual feelings proper don’t start developing until a ways in, and they’re not even admitted until post-canon, because in order to even consider that sort of relationship, the two of them have to come to respect each other first. Enemies-to-lovers is a fucking ART. 

3. Who in their canon are they closest to? 

Kurosaki fam and by extension, Ichigo’s friends. Masato has commissioned at least one custom jacket from Uryu. Also Arrancar Squad and my friend Percy’s insert Juro, who’s a creepy little goth weirdo and a visored.  

4. Does your insert have a backstory? Tell us about it! How does their backstory, if any, define who they are? 

Masato is a mod-soul based off of Mayuri’s quincy research. They’re designed to passively absorb reishi until at max capacity (which is quite large), at which point they can be forcefully “detonated,” destroying them in the process and causing a significant amount of damage to the surrounding area as the stored reishi is released. As a weapon, they’re highly experimental—meant as a last resort rather than something put to regular use. 

Mayuri dumped them in the human world, where their reishi absorption wouldn’t negatively impact the Seireitei, and planned to let them simmer there for about ten years. There’s a seal incorporated into their gigai that not only blocks them from accessing the reishi inside of them, but prevents any outside force (such as hollows) from sensing it. 

Once they become aware of what they are, Masato gets big anxious about anything that implies they’re not a real person. I’d love to salvage Kon’s original personality from before he was relegated to pervy comic relief because I think there’s the potential for some interesting interactions there. 

5. Does your insert have any magical talents or otherwise special abilities? 

Passive reishi absorption, and after Uruhara modifies their gigai so they can access their power reserves, they can vent it from their body and use the force to blast themselves around or add more power to their blows. Their body is about as resilient as a normal human’s, but the only way they can truly “die” is if their soul candy is crushed, which means that injuries that would normally be fatal are just excruciatingly painful. This definitely isn’t just an excuse for me to fuck them up beyond all belief. 

Due to Szayel’s tinkering, they eventually end up as what’s effectively an artificial Quincy. 

6. Do they fight? What’s their weapon of choice? What’s the motivation for them to fight, or to stay OUT of a fight?

They prefer not to fight if they can avoid it, but if shit gets real then they won’t hesitate, bitch. They’re reasonably proficient with a blade after several years of kendo training, and like to bring a practice sword into dangerous situations. It’s not going to do much good against the likes of shinigami or hollows, but it makes them feel more secure, and it’s a good misdirection tactic. 

Due to the whole “functionally unkillable” thing, they’re also far more likely to take risks in battle, and have a tendency to rush in without thinking when one of their comrades is hurt. 

7. What kind of clothing style do they like? What would they never be caught dead wearing? 

It’s all cropped jackets and harem pants up in this bitch. I drew them in that sort of outfit once and now it’s all I give them. They don’t particularly care for their arrancar clothes, but it makes them less conspicuous and also, Szayel insisted on it. Can’t have your prized experiment running around looking like some sort of ragamuffin, after all. I keep meaning to write something where they visit Sastre for a fitting, because what good is having other arrancar OCs if I don’t do anything with them? 

8. How do they fit into their canon world?

A side character who tags along with the main cast but ultimately doesn’t impact events too much. They have their own wholly separate plot going for them and it involves self-actualization and kissing arrancar. 

9. Their favorite foods? Colors? Activities? What do they enjoy in life? 

Kendo, gardening, bike rides through the countryside.

11. How easy is it to make your insert angry? Sad? How easy is it to twist their emotions into negative things? 

Masato’s actually pretty difficult to rile up, unless you’re pushing some Very Specific buttons (personhood is the big one), at which point they become incredibly easy to mess with. Szayel is...uncomfortably good at making them upset. 

13. What are your insert’s goals? 

Up to a certain point, they were happy to live a normal life and protect the people around them when called for. Then they wind up back in Mayuri’s lab and proceed to jailbreak Szayelaporro, retreat to Hueco Mundo, and strike a deal with him in order to gain more power and get mutual revenge on Mayuri. 

Post-canon...they start coming to terms with the fact that their body will never age and grow like a normal human’s, and that if/when they die, their soul will effectively be destroyed, and they decide, hey, fuck that shit, actually, and do a bunch of crazy science until they’ve got that shit sorted out (ultimately becoming like Nemu, if not something that improves on her design). 

14. Does your insert have any family relations? 

Isshin was the one who found them shortly after they were dumped on Earth, and kept them around for a number of reasons (the majority of which involved his Soul Reaper Senses tingling). So Masato’s got what’s effectively an adoptive dad and three younger siblings, who they dote on and bully interchangeably (and whose last name they may or may not have borrowed) (Isshin insisted on it, actually, since it’d make the documentation easier). They have temporary solidarity with Yuzu over not being able to see spirits. 

Mayuri is....arguably family but also like, fuck that. Masato does consider Nemu to be something like a sister, though, and feels particularly protective of her the more they interact. They have just as much a desire to help Nemu escape Mayuri’s influence as they do themselves. 

15. Does your insert have any enemies? What’s that dynamic like? Why are they enemies? Did they ever get along in the past? Is patching up differences out of the question for the future?

Fuck Mayuri me and my homies all hate Mayuri. I shouldn’t really need to explain this one. He treats Masato solely as an experiment and tool for his use. Unlike with Nemu, the fact that Masato is developing on their own is more of an inconvenience than anything, and before they broke out with Szayel, Mayuri was fully intending to wipe their memories and start over from square one. There is some good news, however, which is that Masato does get their revenge and uses their shiny new Quincy powers to seal up Mayuri’s reishi and get him kicked out of the captain’s seat. 

Szayel starts off as an enemy, since you can’t really have an enemies-to-lovers plot without one. He’s done some pretty atrocious things to Masato, but he treats them significantly more like a person than Mayuri ever did. Masato has very little respect for him, and the only reason they start working with him to begin with is because he represents a means to an end. Of course, the more time they spend together, the more tolerant they become of each other...among other things. 

[cronchevans]

lock fair daylight out

After a long hiatus, mod han has returned. And they’ve brought the angst for all their little masochists. You might wanna hold onto something. This is about the time that Pierce actually let ws!steve keep his pup.

warnings: rape/non-con, htp (hydra trash party), physical/emotional abuse, dissociation, victim grooming

The asset had done well. The proof was cradled in his arms. A little pup with bright blue eyes and a mess of wispy red curls atop her head. The director who’d put her in his womb did so at a dinner party, all trussed up and spread open on the long, mahogany table, a red ballgag keeping him a drooling mess and a speculum in his ass to hold him open, keep him drooling from that end too. His legs were folded beneath him, his arms bound backward and attached to ankle cuffs, forcing his bottom into the air and keeping his chest pressed helplessly to the cool wood. He was the main course; his mission this time was to please. To please everyone. 

The asset blessedly didn’t remember too much, never does. He was drugged to the gills with hormones to force him into heat and an aphrodisiac to force his little cock to get hard and his hole to get wet. they liked to pretend that he was enjoying it. At least this time they didn’t make him beg - the gag meant they wanted him quiet. The asset complied. He only cried out once, when the director shoved into him dry, forcing his partially inflated knot past the asset’s rim. The director fucked him rough and fast while everyone at the table all watched, marveling at the sight of the infamous winter soldier being reduced to nothing more than a hole and a womb. It was an honor to watch the next fist of Hydra be conceived. And once the director had planted his seed inside the soldier, he was there for the consumption of the other esteemed guests to do with as they pleased. Seven months after that and the director from the party was dead, assassinated by one of his own guards. Alexander Pierce was nominated as temporary director until a more seasoned member could take over. And the asset had never seen anyone like him before. None of the other directors had an easy charm or glittering eyes the way he did. Something about him made the asset want to obey, to follow him around like the lost pup he was. He wasn’t cruel like the others. He gave the asset treats when he was good and doled out reasonable, deserved punishment when he was not. The asset found himself wanting to please Pierce, seeking out the brief head pats and desperate for a kind touch. The asset’s dedication to Pierce became solidified after the birth of his pup. Something about the way she was wailing in his arms, the way the soldiers had their fingers on the trigger, made the asset very nervous, a sense of foreboding looming over him. He didn’t remember what had happened before, but some part of him knew he didn’t want to let it happen again. The soldiers shuffled closer and the asset shuffled back, clutching the screaming bundle to his chest, a snarl curling his lips. “Mine!” he barked, growling when any of the soldiers approached. The asset hardly ever spoke - he wasn’t allowed. Nor was he allowed to disobey a direct order. This was a new, unexpected reaction. The strike team fully expected for Pierce to take the pup and punish the asset before shoving him back into cryo. It went the opposite actually. Pierce strode into the dirty medical cell, expensive shoes kissing the cement floor. He knelt down to the asset’s eye level and immediately the asset cowered, darting his tear filled eyes down; he knew better than to look anyone of a higher status in the eyes, and knew even better still about what showing fear got you. Pierce then cupped the asset’s face in his hands, bringing their gazes together, and the asset whimpered as though he’d been shot clean through. “You’ve been a good boy, Asset,” Pierce remarked. the blonde preened internally at the praise, meager as it was. “I think you deserve a treat,” he added lowly, conspiratorially, as if what was being said was a secret for only him and the asset to know. “Would you agree?” The asset was unsure about the desired answer. Weapons do not have opinions, they cannot agree. But Pierce’s eyebrow was raised sternly, the grip on his face was tightening, so the asset knew an answer was expected, but what was he to say? He decided not to answer at all, rather pose a question of his own in response. “Please?” The asset’s voice was no louder than a whisper. This seemed to be an acceptable answer because Pierce’s mouth did that funny thing where he almost smiled but didn’t, so it ends up looking more like a grimace. It lit the asset up inside though; that look meant he had done well, that he was a good boy, and completed his mission in the correct way. And then, much to everyone’s confusion, Pierce tilted the asset’s head down just a bit and pressed a reverent kiss to the center of his forehead. The asset blinked away tears of surprise. “You truly have been a gift to mankind,” murmured the director. The asset furrowed his brow in confusion, a faint whimper leaving his lips when pierce gently pulled the sheet down from the crying pup’s face and chest, revealing her to all in the room. “Look at what you have given us. With this precious little one, we will create a new fist of Hydra. we will balance the scales and bring peace to the world.” Pierce tilted the asset’s face upward to bring their eyes together once more. This time the asset made no sound. “She will become like you.” Something ached in the asset’s left shoulder, pulling at it, heavy and dark. He turned to look down at the gleaming silver metal with a vague sense of fear. At his chest, the little pup wriggled against him, bringing the asset’s attention back downward. He didn’t want her to become like him. “You have done well,” Pierce praised again. He went to stand, waving away the guards who immediately raised their weapons, trained on the asset. “As a reward, you may keep the pup. You will raise her and when the time comes, relinquish her to fulfill her destiny as the soldier who will save us all. That is your new mission. What do we say?” “Ready to comply.” The asset’s voice broke. “Thank you, sir.” The director and the strike team filed out, leaving the asset alone in the dark, damp cell with the restless pup at his chest. He was even more confused now than he was before. The director wanted him to raise a pup? He wasn’t trained to be gentle - how was he supposed bring up this small, soft little thing? In a place like this? The baby started fussing, clumsily fumbling at the asset’s uncovered chest, her hands smacking at his swollen nipples. He winced and whined in confusion at the pain and the white liquid dribbling from his chest. He was...lactating? There was a ghost feeling of other hungry little mouths pulling at his chest. Had he done this before? Slow and unsure, the asset adjusted the pup in his arms, fitting her snuggly against him. She pressed her cheek to him, mouthing at the skin around his nipple. “No,” he whispered to her, shifting the pup once more and turning her so that she faced him more directly. The asset pushed his chest out. “Here.” The little pup latched on nearly immediately, sucking greedily at the asset’s chest. He sighed as an odd feeling of relief and satisfaction flowed through him. It wasn’t sinister the way it was when he gunned down a target, when he saw red smeared upon his hands. It was light, the way he felt with the man in his dreams when he’d been put on ice. The asset closed his eyes as his pup nursed from him. It was quiet for the most part. sometimes when it was quiet enough, the asset could hear the man come to him. He wanted to show the man this beautiful little thing he’d made. How good he’d been to be allowed to keep her. But the asset should have known better. By the nature of what he was, he should have known there was no good left in him, no way for him to truly be able to keep his pup. She’d barely hit the one month mark before they came for her. The asset had been displaying erratic behavior - possessively marking his territory, nesting, and aggressively attacking anyone who came too near his cell. He’d also came fatefully close to failing two consecutive missions, once getting captured and tortured for information before completion, the second, the Asset’s position was compromised because his mind was elsewhere, causing him to suffer field-impairing damage. He’d finished without another hitch after that second unfortunate incident, however the damage had been done; he had been seen. Now Pierce was at his cell door, hands casually in his pockets and looking incredibly disappointed. “You really have done a poor job,” he sighed as he unlocked the cell door. The asset quickly wrapped the babbling pup in her sheet and backed up against the far wall. Pierce stomped through his nest on his way in, causing the asset to whine in distress. That was for his baby, he’d made that for his little pup, so that she’s be able to have at least one comfort in this god forsaken place. “Please,” the asset begged. He nuzzled the pup up to his chest, pushing his nipple past her little mouth to calm her, distract her. And maybe, if they saw him taking care of her, they’d see that he was a good omega, a good asset. “Please, sir...I’m s-sorry, please...” Pierce backhanded him. “Be silent.” The pup gurgled between them. “Hand over the child. This has been a poor experiment indeed.” Pierce clicked his tongue in disappointment. “And to think I advocated for you to keep it.” “I can - I can do better,” the asset mumbled, hugging the baby to him tightly. “P-please let me keep her.” I love her went unspoken.

Pierce nodded his head as he sucked on his teeth. “Weakness,” he said. “Fear. Begging? These are diseases. And they will rot you to the core -” The director held out his arms. “- if you do not give up the child.”

The asset gasped in weak despair, staring down at his pup; she was clasping onto two of his metal fingers, blinking up so beautifully and trusting.

Stevie, baby, you can’t give her to ‘im.

The asset jerked his head up, looking around the room frantically. He’d heard the man, the man was here. It’d been so long since he dreamed of him.

I know she ain’t mine, I wish we coulda had one of our own babydoll, but you can’t give her up. The asset felt tears begin to well up in his eyes. She’s yours, she can be ours. Don’t let ‘em hurt her, Stevie.

“Ours?” the asset whispered. Pierce narrowed his eyes, not trying so hard to disguise his annoyance anymore.

“What did you say, soldat?”

“She’s...ours…” he spoke dazedly, as if in a trance. “Can’t...he said so...said I can’t....”

“Who said so? Soldat?” Pierce snapped his fingers, but the asset didn’t notice. He was still looking around, looking for the man with the grey eyes and the pretty smile.

What happened next was a blur, punctuated with pain and screaming and the prick of a needle. One moment, the asset was pressed back against the wall while desperately clinging to his pup, and the next he was facedown on the floor, his pup nowhere to be seen. His head felt fuzzy. And when he tried to stand up, he couldn’t. Pierce’s foot was pressed down on the center of the asset’s back, pushing him down against the floor. Physically, Pierce didn’t stand a chance, the asset could have him neutralized in less than five seconds. Pierce was the director, mentally pulling puppet strings. The asset knew not to react, but the thought of his pup made him throw caution out the window. Physically, he didn’t move; inside he was thrashing. Belatedly, the asset realized that he was crying.

“It really is a shame,” sighed Pierce in feigned disappointment.

The asset heaved a sob. “M-my ba-aby…” He scraped his forehead across the floor. “Plea - please give her back…” He wasn’t allowed to ask - oh what they would do to him if he asked - but that was his pup, his little spot of sunshine.

“I’m afraid not.” Pierce motioned the remaining strike team out. They shut the door with a loud clang, deadbolting it shut. He then took his foot off the asset’s back, knowing the omega would stay put. “I’d like to share some exciting news,” the director said as he came around in front of the asset, kneeling down. He lowered his voice, as if in conspiracy, saying, “Just between the two of us.” The asset continued to sniffle, keeping his face to the floor. “I’ve just been appointed to the position as...” Pierce paused to savor the word, “permanent director of Hydra.”

The whole of the asset’s body jerked as if uncontrollable and Pierce’s laugh scraped down his spine. The director petted his hand through the omega’s hair as he sobbed.

“You know what that means, don’t you?” he taunted, playing with the fine blonde hairs at the nape. “You’re going to have my pups.”

Stevie! The asset heard. Stevie, they drugged you, baby they put you in heat. You gotta get outta there!

Abruptly, the feeling of fire inside his veins increased tremendously and the heat pooling below his navel was acutely more intense. Only one thing felt like this. The asset began to panic, limbs trembling, yet unable to move.

“My baby,” he whimpered, tears streaming down his face and snot bubbling out of his nose, shaking desperately. “P-please...just want m-my pup again…”

“Don’t worry,” crooned Pierce as he got up and began to move behind the asset. He heard the jingle of a belt buckle being undone and the panic re-ensued. The asset whined helplessly, trying to get away and failing. He felt cold hands run down his sides to grab at his hips; the asset yelped. “You’ll be having another one real soon. You might not be the best mother, but you are the best fuckhole and womb.” Pierce chuckled like he’d made a joke. “Or so I’ve heard.”

Don’t hurt him! Get your hands off him you slimy son of a bitch! The man from his dreams was raging as Pierce wetted his cock with slick from his hole. It felt wrong when arched his back in perfect presentation, wrong when he pushed inside. No, not my omega! He’s my mate you motherfucker - stop it, stop it, you’re hurting him! Baby, oh god, my omega...my baby…

‘My omega’? The asset didn’t remember belonging to anyone other than Hydra.

The room was filled with skin slapping against skin and silence, white liquid pooling beneath the asset’s chest as he ached inside and out for his pup, for her sweet little mouth on him. The asset swirled his fingers in the mess, Pierce still grunting from behind, and stuck them in his mouth, sobbing at the taste of his own milk. He cried quietly while Pierce had his way, accompanied by the crying of the man as well, a melancholic symphony of sorrow, which only two tethered souls could share from beyond even the grave.

Who are you? The asset wanted to ask aloud; he didn’t understand why this man was behind his eyes, why he was so kind and beautiful when no one else in his world was.

“Who am I?” Pierce panted, digging in nails into the asset’s skin. “Say it, Soldat.”

I’m your Bucky, the man said with tears in his voice.

The director’s knot began catching at his rim with every thrust.

What am I? The asset asked the man.

“Say it.”

You’re my omega, you’re Stevie. I’ve loved you since we were thirteen.

‘Love’? The asset didn’t remember that either.

You know me, insisted the man. I’m your -

“Fucking say it!”

The asset gasped and for a single, brief moment, he remembered. Calloused hands, strong sun-tanned arms, a sea salt breeze and sticky sweet lips on his - they all came in a rush and were gone just as fast. But, it was enough. It was enough to remember, the man was -

“Alpha….” Steve breathed out in ecstasy. Light exploded behind his eyes and the man - Bucky - smiled, and god it felt like what he imagined love would feel like, soft and safe and warm.

Pierce rutted into him twice more before spilling inside him. Pierce thought it was for him, his hopeless plea for his alpha. But it wasn’t for him. It was for Bucky, his Bucky, to whom he truly belonged.

Leave me a comment to validate me, I’d love to know what you think. This is a test run for a new blog. xxx